laurawoods13's reviews
72 reviews

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

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emotional lighthearted 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

4.25


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My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

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

3.25


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Beach Read by Emily Henry

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

3.5


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Hello, Summer by Mary Kay Andrews

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

3.0

This book cannot figure out when it takes place. It was published in 2020 (and shows a campaign slogan with 2020) but does not read like a book from this decade. What 23-year-old man uses the word “pocketbook”? There were a lot of instances of characters using old fashioned dialogue/phrases/metaphors and it wasn’t believable. Maybe 1 or 2 characters, but not ALL of them. The main character also kept making rude remarks about “millennials” when she’s literally in her 30s and is literally a millennial herself. It couldn’t have been more apparent that the author is clearly old herself and shouldn’t try to write books about young people. And
what’s with the three different plots? Dead congressman for 3/4 of the book, and then we just want to throw in an attempted abduction/rape/murder, and the subsequent murder of that person by a mysterious radio DJ wanted for hit and run DUI murder, who is also killed in the process. Pick a plot and stick to it.
Finally I felt like the ending was rushed and didn’t properly wrap up the case that she was working on for 400 pages. And it didn’t feel it was earned. Ending was disappointing. 

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What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

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

4.5


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Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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

5.0

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

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mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0


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Courageously You: Magical Mind Games to Get Unstuck and Reignite Your Joy by Colleen Vanderzyden

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Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

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lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

WAY too many characters and most of them suck so I didn’t really care about them. Also too many little details that add nothing to the story. It picked up in the second half, but you were following multiple stories and nothing feels properly resolved. Don’t want to waste my time on the sequels so will just have to read a summary to know what happened with the characters. 
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious 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

4.0

A bit slow to get into but overall a really moving story with a lot of interesting characters. I wish the writing style had been different though, as it jumped around A LOT and we kept being given information we really didn’t need, so it became hard to follow the story at times. 

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