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indiekay's reviews
959 reviews
Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White
3.0
Thank you NetGalley for the eARC
Y'all. It took me 5 months to finish this book 😅 I started in in April, just before I had a really busy month, and decided to put it aside because it was difficult to concentrate on it. Then later in May I read until the 60% mark, at which point a really gruesome scene happens, and I decided to put the book down until I felt like I was in a good spot mentally to actually finish this. And I guess it took me 4 months to get to that spot 😅
So. I did obviously struggle with this. This is my first time reading this author, though I usually love books with trans main characters. But this book is definitely too gruesome for me, and it felt really hopeless for the first 70%. The actual writing style is pretty engaging though, which was why I didn't want to DNF it even when I was struggling with it.
That said,the reason I'm giving 3 stars is just because I don't actually feel like Miles DID anything in this book. Everything happens TO him, he doesn't really get to make any choices himself.The first character Miles kills dies by accident, then the next character Miles almost decides not to kill, but then Cooper kills him. The 3rd character Miles just, again, ACCIDENTALLY kills, and the 4th character gets killed by Miles's dog and grandfather. Like I dunno, narratively it'd have been better if they'd actually decided to kill one of those characters. It also just kind of brushes past any decisions Noah and Cooper make - just a "oh they only did those horrible things because they were also victims of circumstance. Like, I just don't think I agree with that.
The first 50% of this book is also just very slow and there's a lot packed into the last 40% that could have used some breathing space between each scene.
Y'all. It took me 5 months to finish this book 😅 I started in in April, just before I had a really busy month, and decided to put it aside because it was difficult to concentrate on it. Then later in May I read until the 60% mark, at which point a really gruesome scene happens, and I decided to put the book down until I felt like I was in a good spot mentally to actually finish this. And I guess it took me 4 months to get to that spot 😅
So. I did obviously struggle with this. This is my first time reading this author, though I usually love books with trans main characters. But this book is definitely too gruesome for me, and it felt really hopeless for the first 70%. The actual writing style is pretty engaging though, which was why I didn't want to DNF it even when I was struggling with it.
That said,the reason I'm giving 3 stars is just because I don't actually feel like Miles DID anything in this book. Everything happens TO him, he doesn't really get to make any choices himself.
The first 50% of this book is also just very slow and there's a lot packed into the last 40% that could have used some breathing space between each scene.
Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao
Did not finish book. Stopped at 25%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 25%.
The characters are really annoying and I really didn't like one of the audio narrator's voices.
I was particularly annoyed by the one character saying she hates all cis men, because one guy friend just happened to be an asshole (even though she then says every other guy friend she ever had was fine). You're going to hate ALL men just because ONE person was an ass? You know cis men are born cis men, right, they can't help being cis men? If you said you hated any other kind of person just because 1 person from that group was mean to you once, you'd be considered a bigot, but it's totally fine and cute and quirky to hate cis men. Ugh. Plus this happened in the same chapter they were saying that they hate TERFs, and like. How can you hate TERFs if you're spewing the same "cis men are evil" that TERFs spew? You literally already fell for one of their tactics.
Anyway, there were a lot of instances like that were the characters were super judgey about something when they obviously had no idea what they were talking about.
I was particularly annoyed by the one character saying she hates all cis men, because one guy friend just happened to be an asshole (even though she then says every other guy friend she ever had was fine). You're going to hate ALL men just because ONE person was an ass? You know cis men are born cis men, right, they can't help being cis men? If you said you hated any other kind of person just because 1 person from that group was mean to you once, you'd be considered a bigot, but it's totally fine and cute and quirky to hate cis men. Ugh. Plus this happened in the same chapter they were saying that they hate TERFs, and like. How can you hate TERFs if you're spewing the same "cis men are evil" that TERFs spew? You literally already fell for one of their tactics.
Anyway, there were a lot of instances like that were the characters were super judgey about something when they obviously had no idea what they were talking about.
Sorry, Bro by Taleen Voskuni
2.0
God, I can't remember the last time I've hated a main character as much as I hate this one. I like the concept of the book (though I wish it'd focused more on the Explore Armenia and different suitors concept), and I loved the Armenian representation, but Nar is just SO stuck in her head and self-absorbed. She blames everyone else for all her problems, and uses her family expectations and anxiety as an excuse to be an asshole.
I found her vaguely irritating in the first part of the book, and annoyed that she doesn't ever seem to actually get to know Erebuni, she just likes the IDEA of her. There were at least 3 things Nar did that made me think "THIS is the thing Erebuni is going tofind out about and get upset", but then the thing Nar actually does at the 3rd act is SO unforgivable. Poor Erebuni needs better standards - she should never have gone back to Nar. Like, I spent the last third of the book saying "God, I hate you so much" out loud multiple times. The fact I didn't DNF this book is a miracle.
Also, I have no idea what the title has to do with anything that happens in the book.
The narrator of the book has a great voice, and I liked the inclusion of the proverbs at the beginning of each chapter.
I found her vaguely irritating in the first part of the book, and annoyed that she doesn't ever seem to actually get to know Erebuni, she just likes the IDEA of her. There were at least 3 things Nar did that made me think "THIS is the thing Erebuni is going tofind out about and get upset", but then the thing Nar actually does at the 3rd act is SO unforgivable. Poor Erebuni needs better standards - she should never have gone back to Nar. Like, I spent the last third of the book saying "God, I hate you so much" out loud multiple times. The fact I didn't DNF this book is a miracle.
Also, I have no idea what the title has to do with anything that happens in the book.
The narrator of the book has a great voice, and I liked the inclusion of the proverbs at the beginning of each chapter.
Stage Dreams by Melanie Gillman
4.0
The style of this comic is absolutely amazing, I can't believe it's done with colour pencils!
That said, I really wish this was longer. I feel like the characters didn't really get a chance to breathe, and the end comes on very quickly.
That said, I really wish this was longer. I feel like the characters didn't really get a chance to breathe, and the end comes on very quickly.
A Shore Thing by Joanna Lowell
4.0
I enjoyed this, but it was a bit of a struggle to concentrate on it. The pacing is a bit frustrating - the first 50% of the book leading up the the bike race is basically just Muriel going back and forth between finding excuses to hate Kit and being self-conscious, which got really tedious really fast. Once the actual bike race started I got more invested in the story and finally started to enjoy myself. There was even a spot or two that got a laugh out of me, and I enjoyed the side characters (James, Ponsonby, and the Mutton Chop Riders - those names might be wrong but I am writing this review a week after I finished the book, sorry) a lot.
Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
This has been on my TBR for so long, and I'm really disappointed by it.
1) This is not cosy fantasy, there is WAY too much happening in it to be cosy.
2) The main couple have like no personality and you could swap their names at any time and the story would still progress just fine. The biggest difference between them is that one likes to make puns and the other doesn't.
3) This is high fantasy but I was completely thrown out of the story frequently by words like "girlfriend" and "croissant"
4) And talking girlfriends, these women have been dating for 2 years, decide to move in and start a business together, and then halfway through the book do their first "I love you"s?????? Are you kidding me?????? DON'T START A BUSINESS WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND WHO YOU HAVEN'T EVEN SAID I LOVE YOU TO YET. The book also ending with them getting engaged had me rolling my eyes so hard. The usual romance tropes of first I love you and marriage proposal does NOT work when you've already living together and started a business together, ffs.
5) I'm taking one star off my review because the epilogue is not actually an epilogue, it's a prologue for the next book. I HATE when books do that.
1) This is not cosy fantasy, there is WAY too much happening in it to be cosy.
2) The main couple have like no personality and you could swap their names at any time and the story would still progress just fine. The biggest difference between them is that one likes to make puns and the other doesn't.
3) This is high fantasy but I was completely thrown out of the story frequently by words like "girlfriend" and "croissant"
4) And talking girlfriends, these women have been dating for 2 years, decide to move in and start a business together, and then halfway through the book do their first "I love you"s?????? Are you kidding me?????? DON'T START A BUSINESS WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND WHO YOU HAVEN'T EVEN SAID I LOVE YOU TO YET. The book also ending with them getting engaged had me rolling my eyes so hard. The usual romance tropes of first I love you and marriage proposal does NOT work when you've already living together and started a business together, ffs.
5) I'm taking one star off my review because the epilogue is not actually an epilogue, it's a prologue for the next book. I HATE when books do that.