micaelamariem's reviews
653 reviews
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk
informative
slow-paced
3.0
River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
From a perspective that helps one see the different culture and understand the brutal history of slavery in the Caribbean, this book is great. It really tugs at the heartstrings as you follow a mother who escapes slavery to search for her sold children. The descriptions of the landscapes are also great. However, when it came to the characters, I found them, apart from Rachel, a bit one-dimensional and like their descriptions were more “telling” than “showing.” I also was frustrated that Rachel didn’t start her quest until about 100 pages in of a 300 page book—the slow beginning made me less inclined to really immerse myself into the story. Overall it was good, but I think it could’ve been better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Death, Blood, Violence, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Bullying, Gore, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Alcohol
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
emotional
inspiring
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? Yes
3.0
This book was okay. While I admire the creativity of writing the whole story like an interview, I don’t think I much liked the format as a reader. I’m also confused how they can be such a hit band with only, like, two albums. And honestly, there wasn’t really any twist like I was expecting—like there was in Evelyn Hugo. So I guess…I don’t know, this book wasn’t much my thing, and I don’t think going forward, books about rockstars are my thing either.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Death, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Cursing, Cancer, Classism, Pregnancy, and Sexism
The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I read this for a book club and it was okay. I liked the prosaic writing style. The plot was interesting but it didn’t really have enough twists to keep me at the edge of my seat or anything, so it was slightly disappointing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Car accident, Classism, Grief, Stalking, and Violence
The Empress of Time by Kylie Lee Baker
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Such a wonderful duology! I highly recommend to all my fantasy readers out there. It helped me learn more about Japanese mythology, dug to the root of belonging and love, had a great morally grey character, gave us betrayal and redemption, and had some epic battle scenes as well. I wasn’t as into this book as the first one but it was still really good! Just slower storytelling, though the writing was still beautiful and vivid and well, gory.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Bullying, Gore, Grief, Racism, Violence, Vomit, and War
Minor: Cursing, Cannibalism, Classism, Confinement, and Colonisation
The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
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? It's complicated
3.0
This series started out so strong but it gradually got worse, in my opinion. I don’t think the book needed to be as long as it was, as a lot of the detail seemed to be just deliberation on how to handle their problems. There were action scenes but these seemed few and far between. I also am a little biased as I hate the pregnancy trope, so I was doomed to hate this part of the series. I also felt like this Matthew De Clermont I fell in love with in the first book was not here; I get that characters change but I did not like this new Matthew. I did like the themes of fighting for change and learning about new and strange things versus fearing them. It’s a very important theme, especially today, so I admired that’s what the characters were fighting for: loving and embracing difference. That being said, I’m glad this series is done.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Drug use, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, Abandonment, Child death, Death of parent, Murder, Sexism, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, and Blood
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Wonderful book, characters, worldbuilding! Would’ve just loved more in general
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Bullying, Car accident, Grief, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Gun violence
Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I always surprise myself when I opt to pick up a thriller/mystery, and I surprise myself even more when I actually like it. Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney, published by Flatiron Books, was my Book of the Month choice from last summer.
I think most people, if you aren't me, have heard of Alice Feeney. She was a BBC reporter for fifteen years before finding success in her writing. Since then, her novels have found international success. Daisy Darker is her fifth novel.
Daisy Darkeris a locked room mystery. When the Darker family returns to a tiny tidal island off of Cornwall to celebrate Nana's 80th birthday, a storm brews both outside and in. At midnight, Nana is found dead. An hour later, the next family member follows. The remaining Darker family need to figure out who is behind the murders or risk not surviving the night.
"Don't spend all your ambition on other people's dreams."
This book is clearly a retelling of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, and it reminded me of that the whole read. However, some other books that might be similar are The Guest List by Lucy Foley, One by One by Ruth Ware, and The Family Game by Catherine Steadman.
I really enjoyed this book, despite my general aversion to mysteries. This one was exciting. But beyond that, Alice Feeney has a very prolific writing style. Her sentences are beautiful and calls to something deeper. She is able to have the main character reflect on past traumas and her dysfunctional family and find a deeper meaning in that, even while something nefarious is going on around her.
Don't get me wrong--even while the main character looks for redeemable qualities in her family, they are still mostly unlikable. Perhaps that is a necessary quality so that the reader doesn't get too sad when/if one of them dies. It did make me sad for the main character however, and the trauma she grew up with.
The way the plot twist is set up is also very clever. I'm not going to spoil anything, but it's those kind of books where things might start to make sense if you go back through a second time. I'm tempted to. However, I still didn't like the plot twist--it seemed a bit far-fetched and fantastical and I wasn't expecting it (I suppose that's the point of a plot twist--but it was so unexpected that it jerked me out of the story).
I also loved the parallel of the past and the present so we can see how the whole family got to be as broken as it was. Plus, the flashbacks do provide some vital clues to the killer and motive. Though, I must say, I completely missed it.
So....due to me being gripped by the story the whole way, the beautiful writing, intense characters but somewhat disappointing plot twist I give this book four stars. And I still do highly recommend it to locked room thriller lovers and anyone that likes things a little creepy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Body shaming, Grief, Murder, Death of parent, Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Suicide, Violence, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual harassment
Darling Girl by Liz Michalski
dark
emotional
tense
slow-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? It's complicated
2.0
I was so excited to read this book even though I put it off for so long. (It was my BOTM pick a year ago). I love fairy tale retellings and I love when they’re dark and gritty too, like a homage to the originals which were meant to be dark and gritty. But this book was mostly disappointing. It took me a while to decide how to rate this, because some of it was actually well-written and I did feel like I was in New York and London.
But there were things I really didn’t like and it wasn’t until reading the other reviews that I could put words to it. I will say that a main complaint of others is not of mine—BUT still check trigger warnings. There is SA in the book but I thought it was going to be more graphic based on the complaints and it wasn’t the main point of the book. The book is more about Peter Pan kidnapping children (which again is kind of a homage to the original).
I think it had potential if we saw more of Peter and how he grew dark—or even got to see what Neverland has become! That would have been much more interesting than just chapter after chapter of Holly worrying and sad with very little action to fix the problem.
Also, someone else said they were annoyed how Holly wanted to sleep with everyone she met, and honestly that was kind of annoying. Though I’m all for sexual freedom, I felt like this took away her agency.
The author also tried to push a romance that didn’t work for me—there was very little burn in it, it was just 0-100. In a sense, my main complaint for everything is that. 0-100, details of worrying but no detail of the action and how they solved the problem. I’m not going to be keeping this book.
But there were things I really didn’t like and it wasn’t until reading the other reviews that I could put words to it. I will say that a main complaint of others is not of mine—BUT still check trigger warnings. There is SA in the book but I thought it was going to be more graphic based on the complaints and it wasn’t the main point of the book. The book is more about Peter Pan kidnapping children (which again is kind of a homage to the original).
I think it had potential if we saw more of Peter and how he grew dark—or even got to see what Neverland has become! That would have been much more interesting than just chapter after chapter of Holly worrying and sad with very little action to fix the problem.
Also, someone else said they were annoyed how Holly wanted to sleep with everyone she met, and honestly that was kind of annoying. Though I’m all for sexual freedom, I felt like this took away her agency.
The author also tried to push a romance that didn’t work for me—there was very little burn in it, it was just 0-100. In a sense, my main complaint for everything is that. 0-100, details of worrying but no detail of the action and how they solved the problem. I’m not going to be keeping this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, and Suicide attempt
Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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? No
2.0
We all know by now I’m not the biggest thriller fan but I have actually liked a few in the past year! This, unfortunately, was not it. The main thing was I found it so predictable—and I’m normally never right about these things whereas here I called all the twists. Plus there is a lot of SA in the book which I suppose added to it, but it started to get too detailed for me and could be very triggering for other readers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, Rape, Blood, Infidelity, Violence, Abandonment, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Gore, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Murder, Sexual assault, Death, Racism, Grief, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, and Suicide attempt