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readsforlove's reviews
811 reviews
The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco
3.5
Another delightful read from Chupeco. It was after I spent three and a half hours riveted and unmoving that I realized I just need to go read every book by this author. They are incredible.
The premise was dope AF. A ghost that takes vengeance on the murderers of children? Hell. Yeah. I ate that shit up. It was scary and sad and well written. I loved how it was told from Okiku's point of view, and thought that was a really interesting choice.
I would have given this a solid four stars, but I had to knock off another half star because of the lack of emotional depth in the story. I really feel like there was a lot of potential to make me sob with the weight of this story. And it was so heavy. Like. Wow. But due to the distance of Okiku's narration, a lot of that emotional weight just didn't happen. Sure, it can be inferred and implied, but the narrative should work to evoke that. (It would have helped if the narration was shared between Okiku and Tark.) I think this is an area that Chupeco has really grown in, having read their most recent books first, so I think the issue is just that this was an early novel from this author. I still really enjoyed it, and have already downloaded the audiobook for the sequel. (I think Tark is the narrator in this one, which is very exciting!)
The premise was dope AF. A ghost that takes vengeance on the murderers of children? Hell. Yeah. I ate that shit up. It was scary and sad and well written. I loved how it was told from Okiku's point of view, and thought that was a really interesting choice.
I would have given this a solid four stars, but I had to knock off another half star because of the lack of emotional depth in the story. I really feel like there was a lot of potential to make me sob with the weight of this story. And it was so heavy. Like. Wow. But due to the distance of Okiku's narration, a lot of that emotional weight just didn't happen. Sure, it can be inferred and implied, but the narrative should work to evoke that. (It would have helped if the narration was shared between Okiku and Tark.) I think this is an area that Chupeco has really grown in, having read their most recent books first, so I think the issue is just that this was an early novel from this author. I still really enjoyed it, and have already downloaded the audiobook for the sequel. (I think Tark is the narrator in this one, which is very exciting!)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Stalking
Hunted by Meagan Spooner
1.5
Good lord, this book has me pissed. This is the second installment in my Beauty and the Beast research, and ... wow. This was painful. I at least kind of enjoyed Robin McKinley's Beauty, but this ... like, damn.
Skipping over the usual problematic parts of the source material that this book tries to fix in one conversation 85% through the book (spoiler: it doesn't work), this book was just ... GAH.
Let's start with Yeva. She is ... stupid. But that foolishness is not very consistent, which is so. infuriating. The scenes where she is first captured by the Beast (and being held in a cell until she gets sick and almost dies) were probably the most infuriating part of the novel, because she just ... is so naive? And comes up with these assumptions with no fucking grounds for them??? like. girl.
She had the potential to be a good character, and I did like the heart of what the book was trying to say (chasing the things you want and turning again and again to the next thing in the hopes of finding it, but never succeeding) but the ending just completely negated that theme (as well as, you know, most of the novel also negating it). I can kind of see what this book was trying to be, but it just ... failed. Miserably. The Beast wasn't cruel, but he hurt her and manipulated her and I just don't get why??
Anyway, I'm already tired of writing this review so I'll end with the reason it gets a star--the writing was pretty. It felt really haunting and scary (would have worked so well as a horror, I'm telling you), and the magic system was really cool too. I loved the various magical creatures. They really took my breath away and heightened the fairytale experience of reading this.
Okay I'm going to go take a break from B&tB content to purge my weary soul of the ick.
Skipping over the usual problematic parts of the source material that this book tries to fix in one conversation 85% through the book (spoiler: it doesn't work), this book was just ... GAH.
Let's start with Yeva. She is ... stupid. But that foolishness is not very consistent, which is so. infuriating. The scenes where she is first captured by the Beast (and being held in a cell until she gets sick and almost dies) were probably the most infuriating part of the novel, because she just ... is so naive? And comes up with these assumptions with no fucking grounds for them??? like. girl.
She had the potential to be a good character, and I did like the heart of what the book was trying to say (chasing the things you want and turning again and again to the next thing in the hopes of finding it, but never succeeding) but the ending just completely negated that theme (as well as, you know, most of the novel also negating it). I can kind of see what this book was trying to be, but it just ... failed. Miserably. The Beast wasn't cruel, but he hurt her and manipulated her and I just don't get why??
Anyway, I'm already tired of writing this review so I'll end with the reason it gets a star--the writing was pretty. It felt really haunting and scary (would have worked so well as a horror, I'm telling you), and the magic system was really cool too. I loved the various magical creatures. They really took my breath away and heightened the fairytale experience of reading this.
Okay I'm going to go take a break from B&tB content to purge my weary soul of the ick.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent
Moderate: Blood
Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley
2.0
This is my first book that I'm reading in a long line of books that I will hate, but I'm doing it for the research.
No one can accuse me now of not doing my research, haha.
So. As adaptions go, this is just a rewrite of the original story. The writing is lush and beautiful (which is why it's 2 stars, not 1) and the magic is enchanting and mesmerizing. I loved Beauty's horse (though I don't remember its name). And I feel that it is in Beauty's horse that we see just how problematic the source material of this novel is.
Beauty is forced to agree to stay in a magical castle with a monstrous beast, or else her father will be murdered. Later we learn that the beast didn't actually plan on killing the dad, but talk about manipulation.
I'm not going to rant more about the problems of the source material. We all know the story. And McKinley wrote a beautifully written novel with very little character development (seriously, what was with that ending? What was Beauty supposed to have learned, when her story ended like that? Pissed me off almost more than the Stockholm Syndrome). I was oddly riveted, but I think that was a combination of the narrator and the quality of the writing.
Anyway. If you like Beauty and the Beast, then this is a great way to read the OG story. Don't expect any new twists and turns. This really is just a novelization of the fairytale.
No one can accuse me now of not doing my research, haha.
So. As adaptions go, this is just a rewrite of the original story. The writing is lush and beautiful (which is why it's 2 stars, not 1) and the magic is enchanting and mesmerizing. I loved Beauty's horse (though I don't remember its name). And I feel that it is in Beauty's horse that we see just how problematic the source material of this novel is.
Beauty is forced to agree to stay in a magical castle with a monstrous beast, or else her father will be murdered. Later we learn that the beast didn't actually plan on killing the dad, but talk about manipulation.
I'm not going to rant more about the problems of the source material. We all know the story. And McKinley wrote a beautifully written novel with very little character development (seriously, what was with that ending? What was Beauty supposed to have learned, when her story ended like that? Pissed me off almost more than the Stockholm Syndrome). I was oddly riveted, but I think that was a combination of the narrator and the quality of the writing.
Anyway. If you like Beauty and the Beast, then this is a great way to read the OG story. Don't expect any new twists and turns. This really is just a novelization of the fairytale.
The 5 Sentence Method: How to Write Your D*mn Book, Already. by Rebecca Thorne
5.0
I've written 15 novels and this book has revolutionized the way I go about planning my stories. I am writing a book next week simply to experiment with this plotting style because it actually makes sense to my brain! I highly recommend it to any writer, no matter where in the process you are.
Also, I've never read a craft book that had a whole chapter devoted to diversity, and Thorne handled it beautifully. A very important and relevant addition to the book.
Also, I've never read a craft book that had a whole chapter devoted to diversity, and Thorne handled it beautifully. A very important and relevant addition to the book.