titalindaslibrary's Reviews (687)

Better than the last book, thank god.

Another cute, cozy mystery in this Filipino series that makes me hungry af every single time. What I wouldn’t give to live near a Filipino restaurant like Tita Rosie’s! 

Wow, I really loved this. It reminded me of Anne of Green Gables, following the story of a young girl struggling to find her place in the world when she feels so unwanted. Except in this story we also deal with colorism, classism, and a family impacted by colonialist roots.

This book also made me so hungry for dishes I’ve never had - I’ll be making sad attempts at these delectable sounding desserts until I can find a Jamaican restaurant near me! 

Add this to all your "weird-girl" and "I support women's wrongs" book stacks!

Ji-won is the eldest daughter and is full of repressed rage...until she isn't. She's sick and tired of the men in her, her mother's, and her sister's life being pieces of shit, and she's hungry for their eyeballs. This book had a semi-slow start, but the short chapters and building premise had me tearing through this in no time. Despite the prose being rather plain and certain plot points tying up a bit too conveniently, I thoroughly enjoyed this addition to the horror/thriller world of angry women taking revenge. 

Also, I cannot help imagining this as an A24 film - I think it'd be spectacular!

By 30% I was able to sum up the majority of this book with one sentence:
"Can't be sad about your dead sis if you're jerking off!"

This is another one of those plotless, sad-girl litfic books that I wish I was hot enough to understand. But alas, I am once again bored. There are glimmers of some fantastic writing that I genuinely enjoyed, but it's buried by this cerebral narration style. Most of this book jumps between scenes with her kid and then back to her internal memories/spank bank that makes it jarring and confusing. 

Also, I felt a bit concerned by this depiction of a bisexual mom and making her hypersexual. Is that not a hurtful stereotype about bisexuality already? 

I'm new to Nikki Payne's writing, and her slips of humor and unexpected pop references gave me a good giggle. Also, I have the biggest crush on Bear now??? I honestly don't know how that happened because this man likes kissing his own bicep and that should give me the ick. 

I'm just not familiar with Sense and Sensibility (I know, I know!), so I feel like that would increase my enjoyment of this modern twist. There were some writing choices that felt a bit disjointed, but I was able to glaze past it because overall I enjoyed the characters and their chemistry so much!

Damn. This was…yeah, this was good. I’ll be doing a proper review soon, but initial thoughts:

- Loved the themes tackled in this book. Not only the heavy hitting identity, grief, and racism, but the subtle ones about a the role of religion and how it can be manipulated to endorse evil things such as slavery. 
- Experiencing this on audio truly provided an immersive experience! The narrator was incredible and did such a good job with the different characters and inflecting the tone/emotion of each scene.
- As the creeping mystery grows and our narrator starts losing the edges of his reality, I felt like I was experiencing a Jordan Peele movie. Incredible! 

This was THE most explicit example of “telling versus showing” I have ever read, and it made this short novel feel extremely long.

I must commend the author on relating a portion of history I was not familiar with, showcasing the struggles of the Mā’ohi after the French colonize and steal their land and use it as a base for nuclear testing. It’s a very clear picture of the damage colonization has brought to Indigenous lives, destroying not only their land but the very identity of their people.

But the journey to get there was…dull. The epilogue was honestly the most enlightening and relates what I believe the author was trying to communicate more effectively. 

Because FUCK this “love story” I hated every minute of it. A colonizing ass French woman (who’s HELPING with the nuclear project???) falls in love with the man leading the Mā’ohi resistance??

And she does nothing but sob at the end of their relationship as she hands over the instructions on how the missiles work???

ABSOLUTELY NOT. 

A very cute and wholesome book! I did enjoy that Eid and saving the Islamic Center was such an integral part. Said and Tiwa’s journey back to each other as friends (and something more) was sweet, albeit I felt a bit frustrated by how easily this could’ve been resolved by some basic communication. YEARS of misunderstanding because they couldn’t say anything to each other outside of letters??? 

Very poetic and cerebral. Really enjoyed this on audio though and wish I had a physical copy for myself. 

Okay wait, this got even better??? I love this Doctor Strange x Snow White remix - and the fact that we got to highlight the "villains" of these classic fairytales. The narrator for this did an excellent job, switching between characters and their varying voices effortlessly.