kayleighosaur's reviews
110 reviews

Asunder by Kerstin Hall

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I know you’ve heard of the trope “1 bed” but can I interest you in “1 head”?this one is for the girlies who loved the throne of glass series and needed more. And by “more” I mean the girlies whose favorite in that series was empire of Storms 🙃 this novel was great, lots of diverse representation and plenty of queer characters too! 

There were some parts that dragged and felt kind of unnecessary but I realized the novel was playing the long game. Something’s felt out of place until much later in the novel when everything snapped into focus. 

I felt like the audio narrator changed at some point and it made listening very distracting. The first narrator was incredible, the second voice… eh. 

Overall, I hope there’s more to come!!

I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

Definitely in my top 5 of 2024 for sure. Jason Pargin nailed it. 
Whatever tomorrow brings, I implore you all to take a moment and read this absolute bonkers novel about finding our humanity in a nation addicted to chaos. 

The audiobook narrator absolutely KILLED this one! Such a great delivery.

Here Lies a Vengeful Bitch by Codie Crowley

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Fun and great spooky time vibe read. HLAVB is for the unlikable mean girls with an underlying heart of gold that the world counted out before they counted in and now it’s their turn to make the rules and create and seek their own justice. 

A great film pairing would be We Have a Ghost on Netflix.

October 2024 DFCC Crypt Pick

Remina by Junji Ito

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

It’s got a lot of philosophical fat to chew on but overall this one wasn’t my fave. It’s good but, ehhhh something didn’t do it for me. 

Evil in Me by Brom

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

This isn’t a book. It’s an entire artistic EXPERIENCE. I LOVED every rich MAXIMALIST Punk rock moment of my time in Brom’s Evil in Me. I actually had to slow myself down and take this one in with all of my senses. I listened to the audiobook, while reading the GORGEOUS hardcover, and I even loved this so much, I ordered the Maxine’s as The Nightmares EP of Evil in Me. 

An absolute bad ass artistic meditation on what it means to be human and the many internal battles we all can face while walking this earth. Though we may have many different beliefs, there are some evils within and without ourselves we all know very well. 

Guillotine by Delilah S. Dawson

dark funny inspiring tense fast-paced

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

5.0

VIVA LA FRANCEEEEE!!!!

Bruh. I can not believe my Bestie actually had me taking a whole sabbatical on my French hatred for me to thoroughly enjoy this book and ITS LAYERSSSSSSS. For a quick little thinnie this book is VERY rich in quality and content. 

This book is for us ghouls, grems, and slays, that loved Ready or Not, The Menu, Knives Out and Mexican Gothic. Honestly? This book ate. 

Genre? Good for her. 

Ring by Kōji Suzuki

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was running at a 3 star pace for me up until about chapter 10 and then everything started clicking at speeds my eyes couldn’t keep up with. This book goes HARD on the philosophical thoughts and allegorical questions. The well you think you know, might not be the one this book is forcing you to dig from. My god, I am still REELING from all my thoughts. 

DFCC Sept 24 Crypt pick 

Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection by Junji Ito

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

My first Junji Ito read and a GREAT companion read to go with Koji Suzuki’s Ring

Merupuri, Vol. 4 by Matsuri Hino

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

Merupuri, Vol. 3 by Matsuri Hino

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing tense fast-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? Yes

4.0