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kaitlynisliterate's reviews
332 reviews
Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew
3.0
I loved every part of this book except for the main characters who were so unbelievably self-centered and melodramatic.
Phantom Orbit: A Thriller by David Ignatius
4.0
I wouldn’t exactly describe this novel as “thrilling.” The first 2/3 of it is dedicated to character backstory, set-up, and providing context. Very slow build but it paid off in the end.
The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
4.0
Wow! This was absolutely incredible. The spooky atmosphere of the woodland setting combined with the dark, haunting local folklore just really worked for me.
I loved the local folklore centered around the Birds that is revealed during the course of this book. Especially the differing opinions from the local residents on whether they believe the legends and stories about the old woods.
The main POVs were Bella, Eddie, Francesca, Owen, and Detective Inspector Walker. There are entries from a summer journal that recount events from 15 years ago. We also get a few chapters from the local fisherman early on in the book. Francesca’s POV was the most interesting, especially seeing how she treated the people around her and the new-age spiritualism aesthetic that she’s obsessed with.
The only aspect of this book that I did not enjoy was the large number of POVs and short chapters which could sometimes feel like “filler.” For example, there didn’t need to be so many chapters with the fisherman, especially early on in the book when the chapters on the other side were so much more interesting. The chapters of the summer journal were pretty boring, not to mention unrealistic for someone to write down word-for-word dialogue in the diary.
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
I loved the local folklore centered around the Birds that is revealed during the course of this book. Especially the differing opinions from the local residents on whether they believe the legends and stories about the old woods.
The main POVs were Bella, Eddie, Francesca, Owen, and Detective Inspector Walker. There are entries from a summer journal that recount events from 15 years ago. We also get a few chapters from the local fisherman early on in the book. Francesca’s POV was the most interesting, especially seeing how she treated the people around her and the new-age spiritualism aesthetic that she’s obsessed with.
The only aspect of this book that I did not enjoy was the large number of POVs and short chapters which could sometimes feel like “filler.” For example, there didn’t need to be so many chapters with the fisherman, especially early on in the book when the chapters on the other side were so much more interesting. The chapters of the summer journal were pretty boring, not to mention unrealistic for someone to write down word-for-word dialogue in the diary.
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
It's a Privilege Just to Be Here by Emma Sasaki
4.25
What an amazing debut! Witty, sharp, darkly funny, and packed with irony, I was absolutely enthralled by this book from beginning to end — even when it (purposefully) made me feel so mad.
While the main focus of this book is undoubtedly the absurdity of elite prep school parents and administration, and their unwillingness to actually address racial inequality instead of just pandering, my favorite aspect of the novel was the exploration of fraught mother-daughter relationships (Aki and Meg) and the struggles of being a teenage girl. It felt so raw and authentic. The reader can see that both Aki and Meg are imperfect human beings, blinded by generational differences and differing expectations, who are under immense pressure and deal with it in different ways.
I admit that I sometimes felt immensely frustrated with Aki because she really was such a doormat for most of this book, even to the detriment of her daughter and their relationship. But the novel did a good job in exploring why Aki behaves the way that she does and her growing a spine is a big part of her character arc.
The depiction of modern-day teenagers wasn’t perfect. 17-year-old Meg and her social justice-minded friends sometimes sounded more like cartoonish right-wing caricatures of “the woke mob” than actual teenagers doing activism for the first time. A lot of the lingo/slang is outdated and made the book feel like it was set in 2017 rather than 2024.
My biggest disappointment with this book was the narrow scope. This story really narrows in on racism and to a lesser extent, classism with other forms of bigotry (sexism, homophobia, etc) only in the periphery. There were a few scenes around homophobic or misogynistic behavior but considering this is a novel about an elite private school, I was surprised that it wasn’t explored more. This honestly makes the book feel pretty unrealistic at times.
Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
This Girl's A Killer by Emma C. Wells
2.0
There has been a recent spate of books about a “righteous” serial killer who only kills “bad people” who arguably deserve it. This book unfortunately doesn’t measure up to the other entries in this category. Everyone except for the protagonist Cordelia was so flat and one-dimensional while Cordelia’s characterization was completely inconsistent. The dialogue and especially the text messages (with emojis!) sounded unnatural and were sometimes cringe-inducing.
There was also just way too much going on with all the side plots. Multiple story arcs felt like they were heading somewhere but then just… didn’t? For example, Cordelia begins sort of dating Christopher, a police officer, to make her best friend Diane happy and to get inside information on the police investigation into the string of disappearances (who are the “bad men” that Cordelia has killed). It quickly becomes clear that Christopher is really just a plot device with basically no personality and will disappear from the story when he no longer serves the story.
The much bigger side plot that really fizzled out was regarding Cordelia’s job as a pharmaceutical rep. Considering what has come to light regarding OxyContin and other prescription drugs, I was glad that the novel opens by tackling the issues with the pharmaceutical industry and with pharma rep tactics head-on. At the start of the novel, Cordelia learns that the sleep aid which has been her main account (and main source of income) is getting pulled from distribution due to the company covering up its lethal side effects. This is obviously bad not only because Cordelia is complicit in this scandal but also because her supply of sleep drugs (which she uses to knock out her victims) is being cut off. Unfortunately, instead of the main character having a crisis of conscience (because her main “hobby” is literally killing people who cross her strict moral code) or dealing with being a hypocrite, this side plot just turns intoa blackmail scheme over forging signatures and Cordelia trying to cover up her tracks with no real conclusion to the whole drug scandal.
In fact, I found the “character growth” that Cordelia and the narrative insist has occurred to be pretty underwhelming. The novel starts with Cordelia saying that she’s super organized, and punctual, plans for everything, and needs to be in control of the situation. Yet the reader never sees Cordelia exemplifying any of those traits. The very first scene is her frazzled because she’s late in delivering cupcakes to her goddaughter and her supposedly meticulously organized life only unravels from there. To put it simply, Cordelia is a hot mess in the middle of a meltdown for this entire book. Yet the “character development” is all about learning to let go of control and not being a perfectionist. Frankly, I’m unconvinced that she ever was *in* control in the first place.
Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
There was also just way too much going on with all the side plots. Multiple story arcs felt like they were heading somewhere but then just… didn’t? For example, Cordelia begins sort of dating Christopher, a police officer, to make her best friend Diane happy and to get inside information on the police investigation into the string of disappearances (who are the “bad men” that Cordelia has killed). It quickly becomes clear that Christopher is really just a plot device with basically no personality and will disappear from the story when he no longer serves the story.
The much bigger side plot that really fizzled out was regarding Cordelia’s job as a pharmaceutical rep. Considering what has come to light regarding OxyContin and other prescription drugs, I was glad that the novel opens by tackling the issues with the pharmaceutical industry and with pharma rep tactics head-on. At the start of the novel, Cordelia learns that the sleep aid which has been her main account (and main source of income) is getting pulled from distribution due to the company covering up its lethal side effects. This is obviously bad not only because Cordelia is complicit in this scandal but also because her supply of sleep drugs (which she uses to knock out her victims) is being cut off. Unfortunately, instead of the main character having a crisis of conscience (because her main “hobby” is literally killing people who cross her strict moral code) or dealing with being a hypocrite, this side plot just turns into
In fact, I found the “character growth” that Cordelia and the narrative insist has occurred to be pretty underwhelming. The novel starts with Cordelia saying that she’s super organized, and punctual, plans for everything, and needs to be in control of the situation. Yet the reader never sees Cordelia exemplifying any of those traits. The very first scene is her frazzled because she’s late in delivering cupcakes to her goddaughter and her supposedly meticulously organized life only unravels from there. To put it simply, Cordelia is a hot mess in the middle of a meltdown for this entire book. Yet the “character development” is all about learning to let go of control and not being a perfectionist. Frankly, I’m unconvinced that she ever was *in* control in the first place.
Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware
3.25
I enjoyed this book a lot, even though it was quite unrealistic and hastily written at times. Definitely a quick and easy popcorn thriller that I finished within a day.
Even though there is a pretty large cast of characters with 10 contestants on the reality TV show, the author did a good job distinguishing them all so I was never confused. This is helped by the fact that the book is written from only one perspective, Lyla. There are also diary entries from another contestant, Zana, every few chapters to add a different take on the events that occur.
The weakest parts of this book were the prologue and the ending while the rest of the book was really good at setting up the finale, building conflicts, and slowly revealing information.
The prologue feels out of place and really ruins a lot of the suspense because it basically reveals how the final showdown with the main antagonist occurs. So when the characters devise a scheme later in the novel, the reader already knows that it’s not going to work.
The ending of this book was quite strange and left a lot of unanswered questions. The main one is why they were suddenly able tomake contact with a boat through the radio after all their previous attempts went unanswered. It felt so convenient that right when they had wrapped everything up on the island and were close to running out of food, they got one last shot at calling for help and it worked.
Another half-baked aspect of the novel is the cameras that were set up to record everything for the reality TV show and keep recording after the storm strands them on the island. For some reason, these cameras are the main drivers for a lot of the tension/drama in the final act of the story. It’s explicitly stated that there’s no wifi connection on the island so the video recordings would either be uploaded to a central drive (and thus not an issue since all the equipment except a single radio was destroyed in the storm) or stored on the cameras themselves. But the survivors inexplicably decide that it would be too suspicious for them to take down all the cameras so they have to let them keep recording everything. What?! I think it would actually be extremely reasonable for them to take down all the cameras after they’re stranded in a storm.
Even if we accept the whole camera thing, it’s still really baffling why all the remaining survivors were so convinced that they were going to beprosecuted for the murder of the main antagonist after they were rescued from the island. They insist that they would never be believed if they claimed self-defense but the explanation/solution that they come up with is even sillier.
But overall, I thought the characters were compelling and I enjoyed the survivor/Lord of the Flies aspect of the book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Even though there is a pretty large cast of characters with 10 contestants on the reality TV show, the author did a good job distinguishing them all so I was never confused. This is helped by the fact that the book is written from only one perspective, Lyla. There are also diary entries from another contestant, Zana, every few chapters to add a different take on the events that occur.
The weakest parts of this book were the prologue and the ending while the rest of the book was really good at setting up the finale, building conflicts, and slowly revealing information.
The prologue feels out of place and really ruins a lot of the suspense because it basically reveals how the final showdown with the main antagonist occurs. So when the characters devise a scheme later in the novel, the reader already knows that it’s not going to work.
The ending of this book was quite strange and left a lot of unanswered questions. The main one is why they were suddenly able to
Another half-baked aspect of the novel is the cameras that were set up to record everything for the reality TV show and keep recording after the storm strands them on the island. For some reason, these cameras are the main drivers for a lot of the tension/drama in the final act of the story. It’s explicitly stated that there’s no wifi connection on the island so the video recordings would either be uploaded to a central drive (and thus not an issue since all the equipment except a single radio was destroyed in the storm) or stored on the cameras themselves. But the survivors inexplicably decide that it would be too suspicious for them to take down all the cameras so they have to let them keep recording everything. What?! I think it would actually be extremely reasonable for them to take down all the cameras after they’re stranded in a storm.
Even if we accept the whole camera thing, it’s still really baffling why all the remaining survivors were so convinced that they were going to be
But overall, I thought the characters were compelling and I enjoyed the survivor/Lord of the Flies aspect of the book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
The Unraveling by Vi Keeland
2.0
I was so so disappointed by this book. There was so much potential but unfortunately, nothing really came together.
First and foremost, I just didn’t care about any of the characters in this book. The main character, Meredith, just keeps making the stupidest possible decisions at every turn. Not only was she a total train wreck, it was difficult to feel a ton of sympathy for her either, despite what she’s been through. The way that she behaves towards her patients (not Gabriel, just her regular normal patients) was so unprofessional and incompetent that I was actively rooting for her downfall.
The unwillingness to have Meredith face real consequences for her actions was just unbelievable. At the beginning of the novel, Meredith is returning to work as a psychiatrist after a one-year suspension. She’s lost half of her clients because of this and mentions having to put up online ads but really, her practice seems to return to normal upon her return. There’s never any real hardship (apart from what Meredith inflicts upon herself). And by the end of the novel,Meredith is thriving as a professor at Brooklyn College. How on earth would she be hired as a professor after having her license first suspended and then revoked for multiple ethics violations?
The man that Meredith becomes involved with, Gabriel, is so bland and uninteresting that I had a hard believing that anyone could be obsessed with him. It’s just constantly emphasized how attractive Gabriel is but we never see any real personality from him or any chemistry between him and Meredith.
The mystery and tension in the first half of this book also felt incredibly forced. Characters would constantly think or say things along the lines of “everything changed when *that* happened” or “after *the tragedy* you endured several months ago.” The way that information was deliberately withheld and dangled in front of the reader was so annoying and unnatural.
All in all, this was a book that had some good moments but overall, failed to deliver on an interesting premise.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
First and foremost, I just didn’t care about any of the characters in this book. The main character, Meredith, just keeps making the stupidest possible decisions at every turn. Not only was she a total train wreck, it was difficult to feel a ton of sympathy for her either, despite what she’s been through. The way that she behaves towards her patients (not Gabriel, just her regular normal patients) was so unprofessional and incompetent that I was actively rooting for her downfall.
The unwillingness to have Meredith face real consequences for her actions was just unbelievable. At the beginning of the novel, Meredith is returning to work as a psychiatrist after a one-year suspension. She’s lost half of her clients because of this and mentions having to put up online ads but really, her practice seems to return to normal upon her return. There’s never any real hardship (apart from what Meredith inflicts upon herself). And by the end of the novel,
The man that Meredith becomes involved with, Gabriel, is so bland and uninteresting that I had a hard believing that anyone could be obsessed with him. It’s just constantly emphasized how attractive Gabriel is but we never see any real personality from him or any chemistry between him and Meredith.
The mystery and tension in the first half of this book also felt incredibly forced. Characters would constantly think or say things along the lines of “everything changed when *that* happened” or “after *the tragedy* you endured several months ago.” The way that information was deliberately withheld and dangled in front of the reader was so annoying and unnatural.
All in all, this was a book that had some good moments but overall, failed to deliver on an interesting premise.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.