savannahjo13's reviews
35 reviews

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

The hype for this book was so undeserved. I had the “twist” figured out about halfway through, I finished out of spite but was so bored by the end. Maybe recommendable for a teenager? 

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I recommend this book to everyone. It is a part of history not a lot of people know about and as a Washingtonian (even though I am a WSU alum), it made me so proud reading it. It is heartbreaking, inspiring, and written and researched so well. I absolutely love Daniel James Brown’s style. Although, I’ve found his first chapters to be skippable, it usually discusses research/boring stuff before getting into the meat of the story. 
My dad is a sports lover but resisted reading this book saying he “doesn’t care about rowing”. Well dad, neither do I, but I’m telling you, read it. What do you know, he GUSHED about it the whole time he was reading it. 

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

adventurous mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I enjoyed the style of writing and the flipping from Addie’s past to present and her walk through history. It was sad and sweet and a pretty fun read. There was a lot of hype surrounding this book and everyone said it was a sob fest. I didn’t feel that way about it. Sure the ending is sad but it wasn’t entirely unexpected. A bit predictable. 

Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

I found this book to be interesting and informative. It essentially confirmed what I suspected of Trump and opened interesting discussions with family members about who the man truly is. A piece of hot, steamy garbage. 

Neon Gods by Katee Robert

dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.25

I listened to this as an audio book and was constantly listening to it over the course of the two days it took to finish it. It was dark and sexy and fun and exciting. I want to read more from the author. The only things I didn’t love about it was the way the male/female narrators spoke in the male/female character voices. I wish that it had been one narrator and they didn’t change their voice. It felt a little corny to be listening to smutty scenes and hear a male voice start speaking in a higher, “female” voice. Also, for describing characters, the author described multiple people as “the white woman”, “the black woman”, etc. rather than describing what the character looks like (skin tone, hair, eye color, etc.) to leave race to interpretation it was just blatantly stated which I felt was a weird choice.