Scan barcode
isabezza's reviews
309 reviews
Teddy by Emily Dunlay
slow-paced
4.0
I loved the plot of this book, the imagery of anxiety, and the complex characters. The way women's roles/knowledge in the world during the 1950s was expressed was brilliant (and terrifying!!) The narrative however was not consistently gripping and the ending felt a little underwhelming.
The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore
funny
lighthearted
2.0
Elements of this book were very cute and enjoyable because of the autumn theme (e.g. ghost hunting, pumpkins, Halloween, etc.) However, the romance was difficult to enjoy because the plot felt forced and the characters difficult to befriend.
Fix the System, Not the Women by Laura Bates
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
This is a deeply moving and important read. The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five was because it became repetitive in reading out women's traumatic stories.
I understand this is part of the book -to challenge us to see the horrors that women face and blame the patriachy, not ourselves. However, the anger and upset I felt was so much that it was almost not possible to finish the book!
The ending chapter was the most important and the most inspiring. The messages here could have been moved forward - to give us hope and power to read on.
Ultimately though, I cannot stress enough how incredibly important this book is - it should be read by teachers, police officers, politicians, and everyone else who can make a difference.
I understand this is part of the book -to challenge us to see the horrors that women face and blame the patriachy, not ourselves. However, the anger and upset I felt was so much that it was almost not possible to finish the book!
The ending chapter was the most important and the most inspiring. The messages here could have been moved forward - to give us hope and power to read on.
Ultimately though, I cannot stress enough how incredibly important this book is - it should be read by teachers, police officers, politicians, and everyone else who can make a difference.
Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid
3.5
The ending gave me goosebumps, and parts of this book were incredibly moving - the arguments, the forgiveness, and the friendships. However, grief is a hard one to write about because people respond in such different ways and I couldn't really relate to the main characters - so some of it felt distant and repetitive. I also just didn't like the main character!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Car accident
One Day With You by Shari Low
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
3.0
Read the content warnings - this book contained many traumatic events!
During the first few chapters, I was hooked, invested in the relationships (particularly Nancy and Val I loved them) and enjoying the style of writing. However, after a while the story became reliant on traumatic event after traumatic event in order to stay engaging, which kind of ruined the romance/found family trope and became too emotionally challenging to enjoy. It also removed the realism (whilst terrible things happen to lots of people, the way the characters reacted was too "perfect," so I felt very removed from the characters).
During the first few chapters, I was hooked, invested in the relationships (particularly Nancy and Val I loved them) and enjoying the style of writing. However, after a while the story became reliant on traumatic event after traumatic event in order to stay engaging, which kind of ruined the romance/found family trope and became too emotionally challenging to enjoy. It also removed the realism (whilst terrible things happen to lots of people, the way the characters reacted was too "perfect," so I felt very removed from the characters).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury
Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey
5.0
I am really surprised by the negative reviews. I am glad the book lasted longer than some people may have liked because it covered multiple elements of recovering from heartbreak and revealed the seemingly endless ups and downs of such an experience. The book was separated into prose chapters and short list-like chapters which were each full of witty remarks and popular culture references. The main character was incredibly relatable. The narrative voice was highly self-deprecating and amusing in her exposure of some of the more bizarre aspects of modern society and the things we take for granted.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Sexual content
Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie
5.0
Hugh Fraser is such a fun and characteristic narrator. I would thoroughly recommend listening to one of the Agatha Christie novels as audiobooks that he has read. Five Little Pigs was a really intriguing cold-case mystery which had me hooked and perplexed to the final chapter. Just when I thought I had solved it, Christie threw in another psychological twist. She was such a clever writer.
The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson
challenging
funny
informative
medium-paced
4.0
Really interesting and shocking history of how "madness" is defined across various industries (psychology, media, law, etc.) The structure was occasionally difficult to follow as the text was not chronological to when the author learnt/experienced what he discusses, but it was still fascinating with funny anecdotes throughout.