1.1k reviews by:

thelovelylibrarylady

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Whenever I need a pick-me-up, Katherine Center's writing is what I find myself gravitating towards. Her stories have the best love interests who I find myself really rooting for, no matter what storyline she puts them in. Some people may find her writing cheesy, and I'll admit that this title especially may fall into that category, but I just love her books and I can't wait to read all of them!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Margaret Atwood is one of my favorite authors. Everything she writes is perfect and this retelling of The Odyssey focusing on Penelope's story is no exception. I enjoyed her take on the type of woman the elusive Penelope was and what happened while her husband was away on his famous journey. Readers who enjoy Greek Mythology and/or feminist retellings should add this title to their reading list immediately.
challenging emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

The Good Girls is a complicated story to write a review for. It is a title that had a lot of promise but was just executed very poorly. There was not a lot of distinction in the different voices of the main characters and I frequently was confused as to who was who. The message of the story was also very "in-your-face". I think the author wanted to make sure that readers did not miss it so she repeated it many times. I recognize this title falls in the YA genre, but even younger readers could have figured it out without the repetitiveness. Overall, there are better books out there and I would recommend skipping this one!
adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

City of Saints & Thieves is a backlist title that I think is underrated. Full of plot twists and a diverse set of characters, this novel is really well written. By bringing together topical events with a revenge/murder mystery plot, Anderson kept me guessing up until the very end! If you have any interest in refuge stories this would be a great fiction book to pick up! The author has lots of experience with these issues and has actually worked first-hand with the United Nations on refugee relief and development and portrays the protagonist's (who is a refugee) story well!
lighthearted reflective medium-paced

As a longtime member of Bachelor Nation, I knew that I had to read Tyler C's book. I have been watching for 7 or 8 years at this point and he is one of my favorite contestants of all time (coming in just behind Peter K. from Rachel's season). With that being said, this memoir really disappointed me. I was hoping that Tyler would give us more behind the scene details about his time on the television show, but the majority of the title was about his life pre-Bachelorette. In addition to this, the writing was really repetitive and boring. I'm sure other Bachelor fans will pick this one up, but if you don't watch the show/didn't watch Hannah Brown's season, I wouldn't recommend reading this title. 
(PUB DATE: AVAILABLE NOW)
(I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed above are my own.)
dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Rosemary's Baby was such an attention-grabbing read! I devoured this disturbing story in a single day simply because I had to know what happened next. The audiobook, narrated by Mia Farrow, was really well done and I encourage you to try out that format if you can. I have been warned by other readers to not pick the sequel to this one because it is terrible. Therefore, I will blissfully go through the rest of my reading adventures pretending this was a standalone title. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

What the heck. This book was so beautiful and sad. I was not expecting this YA novel to hit me so hard, but it did. Make sure you have tissues on hand when you pick up Yoon's Instructions for Dancing. One aspect of this novel that I really enjoyed was the magical realism elements. When they first appeared in the story, I was skeptical, but as the novel continued, I found them to be charming and essential to the plot. While this is my first novel by Nicola Yoon, it certainly will not be my last!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I have a complicated reader/author relationship with Colleen Hoover. This is my third book of hers that I have read and honestly, I wasn't sure if I was going to give her writing another chance after the disaster of a book Regretting You was. However, Verity is unlike anything I have read from her before. It is a psychological thriller that is impossible to put down. It is a mindfuck of a story and I couldn't have loved it more. After finishing it, I scrolled through the reviews to see how other readers felt about the plot and I saw that many were upset about the ending. I can not relate to this outrage though because I thought the last chapter fit the disturbing story so well. If she decides to write another book in this genre, I will definitely be picking it up, despite our complicated past (haha). 
funny lighthearted fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Dial A for Aunties is definitely one of my favorite books that I have read so far this year. The story is hysterical and I loved each and every one of the characters. Meddelin, the protagonist, is blessed (or cursed) with four Chinese-Indonesian aunties who are very present in her life and would do anything to make it better, even disposing of a body after a blind date that they sent her on goes wrong! There are so many laugh-out-loud moments in this book and the romance was very sweet (it always helps when the male love interest has the same name as your real-life love!). I cannot recommend this title enough and need to get my hands on the sequel as soon as it is published. 
emotional funny reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I don't think there will ever be enough accurate/realistic/positive plus-size representation in literature. Luckily, Juliet Takes A Breath is a breath of fresh air and can serve as an example for future authors on how to write characters with bigger bodies. Rivera, the author, is meticulous in her craft of creating characters who are underrepresented in other novels. While Juliet and I don't have much in common (race, sexuality, homelife, etc.), I could relate to some things that she did and really enjoyed reading about her experiences in this story. I cannot wait to discuss it with the More Than One Story Book Club and see what others thought about this novel!