gillygild2342's reviews
414 reviews

Mad Honey by Jennifer Finney Boylan, Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Finney Boylan

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Wow. Reading this just days after trump was elected for a 2nd time seems entirely fitting and delivers and extra level of gut punch. This book follows Olivia and Lily in two different timelines. I admit that following Lily’s timeline was difficult because it is told in reverse and at times this felt a little too long which the only reason this is not a 5 star read. Olivia’s story was heart wrenching and

when she begins to doubt Asher I was right there with her. Picoult and Boylan set the story up so well that they are able to twist you up in knots with Olivia and Lilly

. I called both the twists BUT they were done in such a considerate, careful, and intelligent way that I wasn’t mad about it and they were still shocking and heartbreaking.

I do not personally know anyone who is trans (at least to my knowledge) but I really appreciated hearing about lily’s journey and how both of her parents reacted to her being trans. I expected the cruelty and yet it still shocked me. I hoped for the love that Ava showed her and yet it still made me cry and I also found fault in some of Ava’s reactions because we are all human

I wish we had heard more from Ava because I think her story also pretty closely paralleled Olivia’s and especially the main backbone of loving their children.

Maya being the killer was a twist I expected but it still hurt considering her participation in the trial. I also admit I’m still wary of Asher but I do think that Lily had TTP because of the bruises after he grabbed her. But his reaction was still scary.

picoult’s author note at the end: “it breaks my heart to know that some women spend their time and energy tearing down the rights of other women.” FUCK

Worst Case Scenario by T.J. Newman

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Not as good as drowning and very much followed the same events that were depicted in HBO series Chernobyl

The Intern's Handbook by Shane Kuhn

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wow. This was a tough book to read. I found myself wanting to shake Adrienne and scream at her to open her eyes so many times. Very much a book told from the perspective of a mother who loves her children unconditionally and perhaps does so to a fault. I know I would struggle immensely if this happened to me and in fact one of the many reasons I’m not having children is the fear of what they could become in this world. Noah’s story is heartbreaking and enraging and complicated.

I knew after the 2nd HIM(THEN) chapter that this wasn’t Noah’s POV and I guessed it was the dad after the next one. That twist was disappointing but also I’m concerned that the signs of distress from Katie meant something more but that was not explored. Adrienne staying with Lucas (at least for now) was a gut punch. I did for a moment suspect she was an unreliable narrator and we were going to get a confession from her.  I desperately wanted to believe in the beginning that a twist existed where someone was blackmailing or threatening Noah into taking the blame for actions not his own but that is not the case here. The suicide scene at the end was so well written, I spent most of the book angry at Adrienne and disgusted with Noah (though Barry’s writing did make me empathize with Noah after the several assaults he experienced) but his playlist to die to curated for his mother made me cry.

this is a very dark and complicated story and you should absolutely check your trigger warnings but this was an excellent read that forces you to confront DARK topics and realities of this world.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia and Sexual assault

The Leaving by Tara Altebrando

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This wasn’t good. It wasn’t bad. It was just very mid. I was expecting a lot more from the story because the premise was incredibly interesting and once they started to hint at the reason that the kids went missing, I was expecting a more twisty and diabolical or intricate reason . We ended up with just kind of a mealy-mouthed reason and a very unbelievable scenario of how the kids were able to grow up for 11 years and not be noticed. And it’s sort of imply that you were gonna get a lot of interaction between all five kids who came back but once they came back, they just separated, and there were some limited interactions, but it just didn’t satisfy the reader.

the impetus being the attempt to remove the memory of the school shooting that the children witnessed so that they wouldn’t be traumatized was interesting enough, but they didn’t really focus on it. And then Max not making it back with the rest of them was just a tragic twist of fate. It didn’t have a deeper darker meeting, which is what I was hoping for. The love triangle between Scarlet Lucas and Avery was weird because for the longest time I thought we were heading towards Avery just going crazy but then all of a sudden Lucas was into her too. I clocked Miranda as shady pretty early and I thought that Scarlett’s mom was also gonna be some type of plant because she was just 10 bags of crazy. The Principal twist wasn’t that interesting and I don’t really understand how they thought he had committed to suicide and who was buried in his backyard, was it Max?

overall interesting idea poorly executed

Hopeless by Elsie Silver

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This one fell a little flat for me, which is disappointing because I was very excited, practically feral for Beau’s story. I tried to go into it with an open mind because Elsie Silver managed to get me to like a small town secret baby romance, but this just didn’t hit the mark for me. The age gap and Bailey being a virgin and that was kind of a big focus for Beau it just kind of didn’t do anything for me. I still like bow and it was interesting to see how he healed from what he experienced when he was in the military, but we really didn’t get a lot of information about that either and Bailey’s backstory was also kind of only hinted at, but not really explained, I felt like this should’ve gone into a more darker area to have a really grounded motion to it. Kind of stayed at the surface level for their back stories.

I did predict pretty much from the jump that it was Beau who owns the rail spur at the initial mention of the mysterious owner, so that kind of took the surprise out of that twist, but I did understand the emotion that Bailey was going through realizing that something, she thought she had worked hard for to gain a good reputation in the town was just forged by Beau but again overall this kind of didn’t hit the mark for me, which is a little disappointing

Reckless by Elsie Silver

emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

I can’t believe I’m giving a book about a secret baby a 4.25 rating but I am. Id like to say it’s totally Theo’s fault but damn did I end up loving Winter!!!

In the beginning of this book I went from e “ew brotha!!” To “I will kill Theo with my god damn bare hands” to “Geoff must die” and from there I spent the rest of time drooling over Theo and finding a lot in common with winter. The third act “break up” was annoying but also hit way too close to home because Brett pulled a similar disappearing move on me and like winter I laid down the law.

I also can’t really fault the ending because well of course they have a kid and get married hahaha

Now GIVE ME BEAU!!

Powerless by Elsie Silver

emotional funny sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I really liked this and was surprised by Jasper. I’m not usually a fan of friends because it just irks me but this one was done pretty well. I liked how formidable became as she started to figure out who she was in a but more really discover who her family was. Jasper‘s protective streak was very cute and his domineering side when it came to the spice was a welcome surprise. Harvey is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters in because that man is just so funny and unserious that you can’t help but laugh

Heartless by Elsie Silver

emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This book was on track for a 4.25 star rating until a certain plot point happened which is a trope that I hate. That being said it did fit well. In the story. It was a very full circle moment for cade. I really liked Willa She was funny and smart, and she knew who she was just not quite sure what she wanted to do, and I think that made this being an age gap romance, a little bit more palatable for me. Cade being the grumpy cowboy, I liked Cade surprisingly. And the mouth on him when he got to talking….🤯. I’m a sucker for a grump who is actually just a softy and always will be.. 
 Cades son Luke made me tear up several times reminds me of my nephew was just adorable.

the pregnancy trope that popped up did disappoint me, it also annoyed me that Willow was this strong, independent woman who just wasn’t sure if she wanted to do with your life and it turns out she wants to be a mom, there’s nothing wrong with that it’s just that it’s a story that we hear over and over and it would be nice to see it end differently.

I did like this one more than flawless.

Flawless by Elsie Silver

emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This was cute. I don’t think Rhett will be my favorite by the end of the series but he was a decent guy who didn’t act like a child. I think this series gives same vibes as the knockemout series but does it better.

I did not see Rob being her sisters husband coming!! That was a hushed surprise. Rhett has a mouth on him and the scene where she’s on the phone with rob was 👨‍🍳😚 glad it didn’t end with and now we have a kid but the bonus story indicates they do

I’ll keep reading, interested in the other brothers more. Beau specifically