jana teresechka
so good, so camp, i love it. made me feel like i was 10 years old again reading this for the first time after spoiling myself coz i bought & read the one first in my childhood home. aspen you are a pathetic miserable excuse of a man. maxon schreave is my #1 book bf (my only one actually) i would go through hell for him
i was a bit hesitant about going into this book because i assume it would have magical realism and it does and i'm not the biggest fan of it but the village healer's book of cures was written so wonderfully well that i was attached at the hip to my phone once i sat down and actually got to reading it. the mystery aspect was there and i screamed at the revelation at the end lol, my dad asked me what i had seen
my god i flew through this book!! the mystery kept me hooked and the author is really good at writing suspense and slight horror—i was a bit scared at times over what was coming out of the art room. the pacing was perfect, not too fast & not too slow although i do feel like some chapters were just filler chapters and i'd have loved to see more of daisy and what happened that night; that last chapter was a bit ambiguous. i also loved the thing about white dogs coming to you as a guardian angel... so cute.
this was originally a 3-star read but this quote resonated with my soul so i'm upping its rating:
“dr x: but you told my colleague that you would be surprised if you made it to your eighteenth birthday.
kid y: i did say that and i still feel that way.
dr x: because you are a danger to yourself?
kid y: no.
dr x: then why did you say that?
kid y: i don't know.. i just feel a sense of impending doom.”
so for about 20% i loved this book. the writing was up my alley and there wasn't really a plot just vibes which i love. i love the short chapters (the ones with veronica are my favourite), but (plot wise) the book lost me when he started “meeting up with lou reed”.
the ending was super predictable but it was sweet. i wish we could've seen more of why beth was in love with mark.
this book made me realise even more that life is short and if you love someone then let them know, even if you think they might not love you back. at least you've told them and you won't be left wondering “what if”.
idk i kinda came into this book looking for like a high society muscovite forbidden romance or whatever but it is quite literally just kostya lenin talking about farming and hunting and fantasising about the country & peasant life with kitty, like we got more of kostya & kitty's love story lol and not anna karenina's & vronsky's... the title is super misleading but anyway, it's still a good read, and i had fun, but meh
i liked this book for like the first... 20%. and then it became olga bitching about her children and not taking care of her dog (sorry, otto, i would've loved and taken care of you better, you sweet dog). for the dog her justification is that her cunt of a husband was the one who brought him into the family, so otto was collateral damage of mario's infidelity, and i don't know, i've never been cheated on by a husband before because i'm 20 and single, but i really don't think i'd be hitting my dog with a branch. the children are a bit annoying especially the girl, but like, their dad had just left them out of nowhere, so maybe i was expecting a bit more compassion for the kids on this end.
the writing is beautiful, but i skim read like 10 chapters because it's repetitive, and i expected to read more about her and carrano's relationship, but instead i get nothing, only one attempted sex scene that made my coochie dry and fall off. like for those 10 chapters elena could've showed us more about carrano & olga but no. she just goes about bitching about her children and leaving her dog to die.
meh, i liked the writing, that's why i'm giving it like 3 stars. the obscenity didn't surprise me because it's an italian book, idk. i wouldn't recommend it though. olga just feels like a mockery of women scorned.
I loved this book, but it was lacking. I literally know more of what it takes to transition betweeb genders than the actual murder itself or how Lily was and most times I felt like I was being preached to. I admire the explanations but if I wanted to know about how doctors turn a penis into a vagina or the debate around gender I'd have chosen a book that was specifically for those topics.. it also didn't feel like there was enough of a reason for Olivia to think that Asher was anything but innocent.
This was a 3 star read for me not because it was badly written or anything like it. The writing was good and (honestly) for a story without much substance it carried on well.
But this book should not be called mystery or mystery thriller because anyone with a brain and even an ounce of critical thinking would have figured out where Ruthie went and who Norma is by the 2nd chapter.
I have to say I was a bit put off by the book because of this... I expected a mystery, a real cold case that is 50 years old, something that will speak to how badly the Natives were treated by the Americans and Canadians but nope, nothing like it, not really. Everything was very surface level.
It did give me the feels and I was emotionally afflicted for a while but
thank you netgalley, bookouture and catherine walsh for sending me this arc! <3
genre & tropes: rom-com, winter & christmas romance, fake dating, set in ireland, runaway bride, post-argument forced proximity, a lovingly protective mmc, hea, no third act breakup, small village
snowed in is my first winter/holiday book of 2023 and i'm so glad that it was because it gave me all the cosy feels i expect from a holiday rom-com. catherine walsh's writing is light-hearted and easy to follow, the book was fast-paced and didn't feel dragged on, and the chemistry between megan and christian gave me happy tingles.
i have to say this book made me want to be in the same cabin christian rented out with a mug of chai latte and my dogs curled up by my feet, with snow outside... this is how you know a holiday rom-com did its job.
there was depth to the story and all of the side characters, in my opinion, and none of the side characters blended in with each other and all had distinctive personalities—which i really have to applaud because in my opinion not a lot of contemporary romance authors can accomplish this feat well but catherine walsh did it perfectly.
also this book is set in ireland so what more can i say? i loved it
anyway, this book just made its way onto my list of ‘holiday reads' which i will be shoving down all of my bookish friends' throats when october is over, and i LOVE zoe so i might have to pick up the book about molly and andrew just to see more of her.
all opinions are my own! (p.s. i kind of want to learn how to knit now.)
