vinylsandvino's Reviews (184)

The Hate U Give

Angie Thomas

5.0

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Anxious People

Fredrik Backman

5.0

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Don't Let Him In

Lisa Jewell

4.5

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This is my favorite Lisa Jewell so far. A twisty read, weaving together people and places with a sinister connection. I found this such a fun and quick read, and was unsure of what was going to happen until the very end. Definitely a worthy read!
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the digital ARC of this novel.

The Inmate

Freida McFadden

4.5

fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

The Fifth Letter

Nicola Moriarty

2.75

mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Book People

Jackie Ashenden

2.75

lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

This novel circles a lot of tropes (enemies to lovers, grumpy sunshine) without actually landing. There isn’t enough backstory to make their relationship- both initially as enemies and eventually as lovers- believable. Our guy is too grumpy. Our girl is too bubbly. It all leans too hard into the tropes without enough substance for me to become invested.
There is a fun subplot involving love letters from the past, and at times I was more interested in that plot line than our main one.
Overall, this was a miss for me.
I received a NetGalley arc of this story in exchange for my honest review.