3.5 stars Ahhh, this one is hard to rate because the first half was 5 stars for me, and then the ending really lost me and it was two to three stars???3.5 stars Ahhh, this one is hard to rate because the first half was 5 stars for me, and then the ending really lost me and it was two to three stars??? But I had so much fun with this for the most part! It really appeals to me as a film lover, and especially horror movies. I love horror novels like this that center around infamous creepy horror films. I think the concept of this book is so unique and fun, I could easily imagine this creepy cult classic 90's horror film in my head, and I love that we're following the child actress of the film years later as the movie is getting adapted into a TV series! The idea of the Needle Man was also so creepy and cool and had so much potential, but the last 100-150 pages of this really fell flat for me and it got sooooo cheesy.
I'm so sorry to have to give this one star, but there was nothing about this book I enjoyed. I’ve read 2 books from this author so far, and I actuallyI'm so sorry to have to give this one star, but there was nothing about this book I enjoyed. I’ve read 2 books from this author so far, and I actually loved In Five Years, so I was surprised by how much I disliked this book. Here are some general thoughts I had down below, followed by some spoilers that are marked!
thoughts: •the writing is kind of simple, like an early Taylor Jenkins Reid lol, like every character who gets introduced it tells you what they’re wearing •I like the idea of it, the papers she gets with expiration dates for her relationships, but the execution was incredibly boring, and every character is so one dimensional •she’s giving a little “I’m not like the other girls” energy though and that’s annoying, they’ve mentioned how thin and pretty she is but she made it clear she does not exercise because she hates sweating •we get chapters that will say “Martin, 3 days” and we get to see her relationships with random past men, which I didn’t care for •There are soooo many Hollywood references like The Grove, and sunset boulevard, and Beverly Hills, it’s almost overkill. Like we get it!!! (I'm from California and grew up around LA and I don't think it's that great lol) •the “deep” line about pasta LOL "Jake is a man who is not afraid to ask for what he wants in life. To peer into a bowl of pasta and ask for a bite." •this main character is so one dimensional and every conversation she has with her friends is about her relationships like she doesn’t have a personality outside of being thin and working in movies
Some spoiler thoughts: (view spoiler)[ •her illness literally came out of nowhere and felt so random •the scene of her telling Hugo about the paper she gets, LOL the way he just accepts it and doesn’t need more of an explanation? that was so weird I'd be like what do YOU MEAN you get slips of paper from the UNIVERSE telling you how long you'll be with a guy?? I would need WAY more information and Hugo is basically like "oh, ok that's weird" •why does it just completely gloss over the conversation of her telling Jake she’s sick?? Shouldn’t that be a big moment for them?? the writing in that scene drove me nuts •Hugo sabotaging her Jake note was so fucking obvious lol and his reason was: “he wanted her to experience a relationship with no limits” lol and this is the man we're supposed to be rooting for I guess??? I think it's gross that he fucked with her note and her life in that way, especially when he so desperately wanted to be with her, why would he even do that?? it doesn't make sense. •she ends up with Hugo, her best friend instead of Jake (hide spoiler)]...more
This was my Book Troop pick for June, and it ended up being a bit of a bummer. I didn't mind the beginning, it was interesting enough, but then a few This was my Book Troop pick for June, and it ended up being a bit of a bummer. I didn't mind the beginning, it was interesting enough, but then a few things at the ending were really frustrating and disappointing.
It absolutely kills me to rate this book this low, but I was really not a fan of this. It sucks because I love Ashley Winstead, this was one of my booIt absolutely kills me to rate this book this low, but I was really not a fan of this. It sucks because I love Ashley Winstead, this was one of my book club picks because of how much I LOVED In My Dreams I Hold a Knife, but this was just not for me. I don't feel like this book is being marketed correctly, it didn't read like a thriller at all to me, more like a small-town mystery drama with so many Twilight references it was verging on Twilight fanfiction. The pacing killed me with how slow it was in this book; the flashback chapters were never-ending and didn't add anything to the story for me. The last third of this book got so dramatic and cringe-y and I get what this author was trying to do, I fully support the message, it's mostly the execution of the story I didn't love. The very last scene.... what the actual f*ck!! I wasn't a fan of that ending, if we can even call it an ending haha. I'm so SAD I didn't like this one, I was really hoping I would. I will still read more from Ashley Winstead in the future, but this one was a huge miss for me. ):
Ughhh sadly this is my least favorite volume in the series. Like what the fuck was that ending?? I feel like this entire series was building up to theUghhh sadly this is my least favorite volume in the series. Like what the fuck was that ending?? I feel like this entire series was building up to these potential relationships and feelings and then nothing ever happened?? And the ending was so rushed and we didn’t get to see how anything came to be… super frustrating.
I feel like I’d recommend this series as a great ‘high school, coming of age, queer teens navigating their feelings’ kind of story, but not as a romance. The romance was such a let down ...more
Believe me when I say I went into this book with good intentions. I am not the biggest fan of the second chance romance trope, but I noticed this booBelieve me when I say I went into this book with good intentions. I am not the biggest fan of the second chance romance trope, but I noticed this book getting so much hype on Instagram lately and so I decided to give it a go. I think this book does have an audience, and I can recognize that I am not that audience. I would recommend this book for fans of Love & Other Words by Christina Lauren, or for fans of Morgan Matson, Sarah Dessen, or Nicholas Sparks even. This gave me similar vibes to all those things.
It's such a pet peeve of mine when a book is marketed as an adult romance, and then we spend more than half the book reading about teenagers. If I wanted to read a book about teenage drama, I would pick up a young adult book. But even with that pet peeve of mine, I enjoyed the beginning of this, I thought the characters were cute and it was fine. It was feeling like a 3-star book for me up until that ending, then I just got pissed off. Spoilers ahead but... (view spoiler)[I hate when there's a love triangle between two brothers and a girl, I just think that's so unnecessary and so gross. When it was revealed that she had cheated on Sam with his brother..... that is so disgusting and Sam deserves better. Like that's some unforgiveable fucked up shit. And it just really bothered me how that whole situation was handled. (hide spoiler)]...more
I'm so sad to rate this book low because I LOVED the beginning and thought it could be a new favorite. I love the message in this book and the way it I'm so sad to rate this book low because I LOVED the beginning and thought it could be a new favorite. I love the message in this book and the way it shines a light on important, relevant subjects like young missing Black girls and the way it gets brushed under the rug and how truly scary and awful that is. But the ending of this book just didn't do it for me, it really felt like it came out of nowhere. I had a really great discussion about this book with my friend Bre for my book club, and she had some really insightful things to say, you can check it out here: https://youtu.be/nRiOz2rJqto...more
This started off so strong and I was really invested! I love stories that follow sisters and I really enjoyed this authors previous book No Exit, so IThis started off so strong and I was really invested! I love stories that follow sisters and I really enjoyed this authors previous book No Exit, so I had high hopes. I’m the beginning, I was so invested in this mystery of what really happened to Lena’s sister. Her sister supposedly jumped off this Hairpin Bridge and killed herself, but she doesn’t think it was suicide. This story alternates between Lenas POV in the present and her sisters POV in the past. The way this story was told just did not work for me at all, I kept getting the two timelines mixed up because the sisters read exactly the same! There is so much action in this book, which should’ve been fun, I really enjoyed the way the first car chase was written, but after a while it got so repetitive and boring ...more
This was so bad and I was bored to tears reading this book and the ending was incredibly cheesy and I predicted the killer from the first page. Hear mThis was so bad and I was bored to tears reading this book and the ending was incredibly cheesy and I predicted the killer from the first page. Hear my full thoughts here: https://youtu.be/KYqDMJa1Thk...more
This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and I feel so disappointed. I feel like this is one of those times where I went into a book withThis was one of my most anticipated books of the year and I feel so disappointed. I feel like this is one of those times where I went into a book with way too high of expectations and I feel like this book had soooo much potential that was kind of wasted..? The premise for this book is freaking incredible and so cool and it had me so hyped. A rabies-like virus that has an hour incubation period taking over Boston... it sounded so epic! And it started off soooo good too, that opening scene had my heart racing.
But after part one of this book, I got so bored and I feel like this story never really went anywhere. The ending was fine I guess but I feel like this entire book could've been a part one and I just expected so much more... I want to talk about something that's kind of a spoiler, (view spoiler)[I understand that I guess what this book is trying to say is the scariest part of going through a pandemic like this is watching someone you love die, and I completely understand and agree and I think that was written very well but I just wanted more from this story. I didn't care about the two teenage boy characters that we got introduced to. I feel like so much of this book was just them traveling and trying to get to the hospital and I didn't realize it would literally take the entire length of the book for them to do it. (hide spoiler)]
Maybe I just had way too high of expectations but I was pretty bored with this one. After absolutely loving The Cabin at the End of the World, it's literally one of my favorite books of all time I had just assumed I would love this one too, but I'm sad to say it was pretty disappointing for me.
I read this book for a video and I really ended up not enjoying here, here are some general thoughts:
-I don’t like thrillers where the main thrillingI read this book for a video and I really ended up not enjoying here, here are some general thoughts:
-I don’t like thrillers where the main thrilling thing happening is a character blackmailing another character -I don’t like the really long chapters with little dialogue, it’s a lot a lot of descriptions that just don’t feel relevant to the story -The stakes just don’t feel very high -I don’t find the character Roux to be very intimidating or threatening I think she’s cheesy as hell and kind of obnoxious, I just don’t think she’s written the way the author intends for her to be -The first chapter started off so strong but this story isn’t really about the never have I ever game, not really, it’s just a cheap blackmailing story -There are some trigger warnings for eating disorders and the rape of a child, which came out of nowhere for me and made me super uncomfortable to read about and the ending left me feeling very icky and unsatisfied ...more
I’m a bit underwhelmed by this one. This story started off promising for me, and I really enjoyed the first two parts of this book. We follow this girI’m a bit underwhelmed by this one. This story started off promising for me, and I really enjoyed the first two parts of this book. We follow this girl Shay who witnessed this other girl Amanda commit suicide in the subway in New York when she jumps on the tracks, then Shay becomes obsessed with Amanda and tries to figure out why she did it and who she was. We get introduced to this mysterious, devious group of women which include Cassandra, Jane, Beth, Valerie and Daphne to name a few. They reminded me a bit of Oceans 8 or something haha.
I feel like part 3 is where this book really falls apart. It becomes predictable and Shay is just so naive, I feel like I figured everything out and I was just waiting for her to catch up. I feel like Cassandra and Jane are kind of over the top villainous characters that made me cringe at times. I also thought the voices of all the women in the group were difficult to tell apart because they all get their own chapter POVs and I just didn’t find that necessary? Also that ending was just.... not it. I thought it was so cheesy.
Idk, I still think this one is slightly better than The Wife Between Us but my favorite from this author is still An Anonymous Girl. I will still read anything this duo publishes in the future. ...more
This one started off decent enough, I liked the protagonist, and the setup of this small town in Arizona, it felt like the standard typical YA coming This one started off decent enough, I liked the protagonist, and the setup of this small town in Arizona, it felt like the standard typical YA coming of age contemporary. But the first half of this book and the second half feel like completely different books. And I wasn't a fan of the second half.
Closer to a 3.5 Ahhh I have such mixed feelings about this one. It started off so promising and it has one of the best premises ever, but then the endiCloser to a 3.5 Ahhh I have such mixed feelings about this one. It started off so promising and it has one of the best premises ever, but then the ending really dropped the ball and it got incredibly cliche and predictable and meh.
This story is about this mother who gets a phone call saying her daughter has been kidnapped, and the only way to get her back is by paying a ransom fee and kidnapping another child. They tell her she is now part of a chain and if she doesn’t follow through, they will kill her daughter and find someone else. Our main characters morals are really out to the test when she must be willing to decide how far she would go to save her own daughter.
The beginning of this book is intense and interesting and it kept me turning the pages so fast. I read this one and listened to the audiobook, I went back and forth and I think the audiobook is actually really great. (I usually don’t like listening to thrillers on audiobooks I don’t know why, but I enjoyed this one!) I was on the edge of my seat at the end of every chapter trying to predict what was going to happen next.
And then part 2 came along and well... our main character gets incredibly obnoxious and overly confident and made me want to slam my head into a wall. Also, that plot twist at the end??? That set up was SO OBVIOUS and I knew it was going to happen and I felt like I was waiting so long for the main character Rachel to realize it like come on????
So yeah, I’m kind of disappointed by the ending because it was a hot mess, but the rest of the book was really great so I’d still recommend it??...more
This story follows this boy named Sebastian who is a closeted gay teenage boy who lives on this farm with his dad and his brother in the middle of nowThis story follows this boy named Sebastian who is a closeted gay teenage boy who lives on this farm with his dad and his brother in the middle of nowhere in Australia. Then one day a boy close to his age named Jake and his family move in to the farm closest to them, and Sebastian start to crush on him hard.
The writing style was kind of strange and hard to get used to because the main story happening in this takes place in 1997 when Sebastian met Jake, but we get chapters from 2017, 2005 and even before 1997 randomly thrown into the book and it was hard for me to keep the timeline straight at first. I'm not sure if the reader is supposed to like Jake the way Sebastian seems to but my god Jake is one of my least favorite characters ever. He's such a freaking asshole who has no redeeming qualities and he bullies Sebastian for 99% of this book, and is such a bad influence on him. All Jake cares about doing is trying every drug the planet has to offer and getting drunk off of his parents alcohol. He also probably realizes Sebastian is gay but spends so much time teasing him and making him think he might be interested and it's fucking annoying.
The ending was ridiculous and it made me want to punch all of the characters in the face. How can they act like that's not a huge fucking deal? Sebastian and Jake made such a huge mistake and are so incredibly selfish it's disgusting. (view spoiler)[In case you're wondering, the book ends with this dramatic scene of them lighting their houses on fire. They want to get out of 'the nowhere' so badly that they literally burn their houses to the ground for no good reason and Sebastian's little brother dies because of it.... like what the actual fuck? That's so fucked up. At the end of the book Sebastian finally confesses to his Father what really happened back then and how he's responsible for the death of his little brother and his Dad just forgives him and said he always knew and all this bull shit. As if it's perfectly fine and not murder of his only other child...? It was insane. (hide spoiler)]
This sucks because I was really enjoying the beginning, it was giving me such Brokeback Mountain vibes with the whole farm thing in the middle of nowhere. But gosh that ending and Jake's character really ruined this for me.
Thanks to the author and his team for sending me a copy of this book!...more
UGH I am so upset about this book. The first half of this book started off so cute and it was probably lCloser to a 2.5 but rounding down for this one
UGH I am so upset about this book. The first half of this book started off so cute and it was probably looking to be a 4/5 stars for me, until the last 20% of this book ruined it. The last 20% was really unrealistic and convenient and obnoxious and offensive to anyone who has actually experienced infertility and I'm upset about it.
Let's start with the positives: I love the romance between Kristen and Josh. They have great chemistry, it's very banter-y which I love. I was rooting for them to get together, I cared about their relationship, I loved that they loved Pulp Fiction. I love the fact that Josh is a fireman and he genuinely cares about people, and I love Kristen and her not-giving-a-fuck attitude. I loved their best friends Sloan and Brandon and their friendship with them was off the charts cute. I love how a lot of this book had this major dilemma: Kristen has terrible periods and is planning on getting her uterus removed and because of her uterus issues it causes her to be infertile. She sees this as a problem because Josh wants to have a giant ass baseball team of kids and he wants to have them the old-fashioned way. So we spend the majority of this book watching as Kristen tries to deal with falling in love with Josh and thinking there is no way for them to have a future. I'm sure there are infertile people out there who can relate to this dilemma Kristen was having. She feels like he has to give up something he's always wanted in exchange for her.
Besides the ending of this book, I found one other thing about this book to be incredibly annoying. And that is Josh's obsession with referring to Kristen as "the cool girl". It's 2019 and I'm tired of reading books about this special amazing girl who is "not like the other girls" and she's just so cool. Like can we stop putting down other women please? THANKS. He said it often in his narration and it drove me nuts. He said all the typical douche things like "the hotter a woman is the crazier she is" and annoying unacceptable comments like that.
Now for the ending. The rest of this review will be marked as a spoiler because I can't discuss it without spoiling you so read at your own risk. (view spoiler)[First of all, I'm really upset the author decided to kill off Brandon just to teach the main characters a lesson. That was some bull shit and I was so upset because I love Brandon's character and him and Sloan were so cute. There was no fucking reason to kill him off like that. SECONDLY, and most importantly her magically getting pregnant at the end was absolute bull shit. And people who have struggled with infertility deserve a better, more realistic ending than that. I know this is fiction, but not everyone gets a happily ever after like this and it's so offensive. And yes I know I read the author's note which pissed me off more because she goes on to say this is not a story about Kristen getting pregnant, but learning to accept herself the way she is.... but if that were the case, the story should not have been about her getting magically pregnant at the end. This could have been a really powerful story about infertility and how it sucks but it shows that it will be okay, but no - we get the bull shit fairy tale unrealistic ending. I feel like this will give people false hope and that sucks. I know you're probably thinking why do you care so much it's a fictional story? And it's probably because my own Mother struggled with infertility for nine years before she had me, and I don't think this story handles the subject very well at all. (hide spoiler)]
Anyways, that's all I have to say about that. This book had so much potential and it was ruined by a very upsetting ending. I don't see how this book is getting such rave reviews with all the problematic content I read in this. Book #1 for Romanceathon is complete!...more
I randomly picked this book up because it sounded interesting and I was curious about the storyline, it’s a decent enough romance that follows this giI randomly picked this book up because it sounded interesting and I was curious about the storyline, it’s a decent enough romance that follows this girl Alix who is a first responder dispatcher in Boston, she dates this guy Dylan who is a pilot. I was invested in the beginning, there was a kind of mystery going on in the book about why she can’t be with Dylan and why they aren’t together in the present chapters, and that kept me invested, but I was easily able to predict where it was going which is disappointing and I found it to be so obvious, so a lot of this story was filler because I was just waiting for the reveal to happen that I knew was gonna happen. It didn’t surprise me at all, and I found the writing to be a bit melodramatic and over the top at times. This romance novel is okay, I probably wouldn’t recommend it though....more
2.5 stars I was really excited about this book, and I really enjoyed the first half of it... but I feel like this book didn’t really deliver and it did2.5 stars I was really excited about this book, and I really enjoyed the first half of it... but I feel like this book didn’t really deliver and it didn’t really go where I wanted it to go. This is marketed as a thriller but I personally wouldn’t consider this a thriller. There were no plot twists or anything thrilling happening, this is just a story about revenge from the point of view of a sociopath. It was entertaining at times that’s for sure, but it was also incredibly frustrating to read 250 pages of Steven being the absolute shittiest piece of trash in this earth and her putting up with all of it just to get revenge (view spoiler)[and the actual “revenge” ended up being so lame like I wanted her to go full psychopath and murder him or something it was just such a mild ending to an otherwise interesting story (hide spoiler)]
I did really enjoy Jane’s character, I thought she was fascinating to read about because she’s a sociopath and she loves to read (which is pretty cool), but fucking Steven is so fucking obnoxious and I understand he’s supposed to be that way and we’re supposed to hate him but my god he’s everything I hate about traditional backwards ass men who think we’re still living in the 1950’s. 🙄 He thinks every woman is a whore and every woman wants him and everything is the woman’s fault and blah blah blah. I couldn’t stand reading so many pages about him it was making my stomach turn with anger and not in a good way.
I guess I just expected more from this book and more from that ending. Thrillers are my favorite genre but I really wouldn’t consider this a thriller and I think it gave me false expectations thinking this would be a thriller....more
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