jesssparksnotes's reviews
23 reviews

This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer

dark fast-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

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No

3.25

In a Garden Burning Gold by Rory Power

3.5

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers

dark funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

If you loved the visuals of Hannibal and felt a tiny bit guilty that your mouth watered at that show, do I have a book for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Cannibalism, and Murder

Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

I like a good horror story as much as the next girl, and I loved the premise: a couple who loves ghost stories elopes in a haunted house in Japan with their 3 of their closest (dare I say most codependent?) friends. But as you might expect, the night becomes a tangled horror as the dark past of the house rises around them, and it’s certain that not all of them will make it out alive. 

I wanted very much to like this. Seeing the haunted house tropes play outside a western setting was a good start, and in some places the prose was lush and featured interesting turns of phrase. In far more places, unfortunately, the writing was purple to the point that it almost completely obscured the meaning of the sentence. Entire swaths of characterization and plot vanished in a jungle of words that could easily have been pruned down into something just as vibrant but more effective. 

The characters themselves were described but given little motivation. I came away from the book knowing the outline of their past entanglements, but without any sense of what any of them truly WANTED beyond survival. They were for the most part ghosts haunting a thin framework of a plot. 

Ironically, for this book’s tendency to use 16 words where 4 would do, that plot as a whole was immensely rushed. Only a handful of events really took place on the page; the rest were summarized in convoluted mixes of description and the occasional verb. Overall, it felt like the language strangled the plot to the point almost entirely.  

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Crossover Vol. 1: Kids Love Chains by Donny Cates

3.75

Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera

challenging emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Suicide