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bookish_words's reviews
55 reviews
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
When We Were Bright and Beautiful by Jillian Medoff
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I had to do a double take with this book more times than I can remember. On the one hand, the author got incredibly immersed in the creation of the characters and she captured the rich and white privilege extremely well. Or, she created the most unlikable set of characters to ever exist. I couldn’t for the life of me tell if something was intentional or not. These characters made the worst choices, yet they were presented as being so self aware that in the end they took the moral high ground. For example: Cassie sums up everything at the end saying, “Maybe I’m wrong. But I want to believe we are more than the worst things we’ve done.” That to me is just so incredibly dismissive of a lot of the sensitive topics covered in this book.
By the end of it I was just “hate reading” it because at least it was entertaining. The quality of the writing itself is great, I think the author did a great job writing a believable court proceeding. I would definitely recommend audiobook for this one.
By the end of it I was just “hate reading” it because at least it was entertaining. The quality of the writing itself is great, I think the author did a great job writing a believable court proceeding. I would definitely recommend audiobook for this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Gaslighting
Minor: Body shaming
The Wild Truth: A Memoir by Carine McCandless
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Hawk by Gabrielle Charbonnet, James Patterson
3.0
I don’t know what happened but in the process of writing this review, I just had so many thoughts that I ended up completely unable to form one coherent sentence about my feelings towards this book.
To put it in the simplest of terms, I had very low expectations for this book and it actually surprised me in a good way. While it does have its flaws, Hawk was a fun read that I genuinely enjoyed reading.
Now, I have been following the Maximum Ride series since like 2007 or 2008, so you can say that I have been at all the ups and downs of the series. There has never been a book that has made me want to abandon the series all together. There are plot points that I wish didn’t exist but that’s beside the point.
What I find to be the great thing about Maximum Ride, is that the characters never fail to leave an impression on me. When I’m reading, these characters are so familiar and it is so nice returning to them, which is why Hawk wasn’t all that bad. I think it is very possible to have good characters within a bad plot
Starting this book though, my main goal was to really try and have an open mind about everything. I didn’t want to have my mind made up to essentially hate the book before reading it and then going through looking for evidence to back that up. I think I did a good job at that. Mostly, it was just reminding myself, Hawk isn’t Max and her group of kids is not supposed to replace The Flock, basically don’t make comparisons where there doesn’t need to be.
Read full review here: https://betweenthoughtsandwords.com/2020/09/18/hawk-by-james-patterson-book-review/
To put it in the simplest of terms, I had very low expectations for this book and it actually surprised me in a good way. While it does have its flaws, Hawk was a fun read that I genuinely enjoyed reading.
Now, I have been following the Maximum Ride series since like 2007 or 2008, so you can say that I have been at all the ups and downs of the series. There has never been a book that has made me want to abandon the series all together. There are plot points that I wish didn’t exist but that’s beside the point.
What I find to be the great thing about Maximum Ride, is that the characters never fail to leave an impression on me. When I’m reading, these characters are so familiar and it is so nice returning to them, which is why Hawk wasn’t all that bad. I think it is very possible to have good characters within a bad plot
Starting this book though, my main goal was to really try and have an open mind about everything. I didn’t want to have my mind made up to essentially hate the book before reading it and then going through looking for evidence to back that up. I think I did a good job at that. Mostly, it was just reminding myself, Hawk isn’t Max and her group of kids is not supposed to replace The Flock, basically don’t make comparisons where there doesn’t need to be.
Read full review here: https://betweenthoughtsandwords.com/2020/09/18/hawk-by-james-patterson-book-review/