spinstah's reviews
1320 reviews

The Woman in Blue by Elly Griffiths

4.0

Another enjoyable installment. Ruth isn’t as involved in this one, but at this point I’m interested in the whole crew. 

A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter by William Deresiewicz

4.0

This was a lovely read for any Austenite. I enjoyed how the author wove his own story throughout each essay, showing how he grew and changed and making parallels to each novel. 

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

3.75

This is more of a family drama than a mystery. While I enjoyed it, there’s a lot going on and while some of that was supposed to increase the suspense, it didn’t for me, and was almost more of a distraction in some cases. 

North Woods by Daniel Mason

4.5

Really enjoyed the structure of this story, and the paranormal elements that popped up from time to time. 

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

4.0

Very fun and absurd. I enjoyed this but the sense of humor will definitely not be for everyone. Interested to see what book club thinks. 

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

3.75

The writing was great and stylistically felt very Gatsby -esque.  It I wanted a little more world building, especially for the magic system. 

Dead Space by Kali Wallace

3.75

I thought this ended a little abruptly, it would have been interesting to see an epilogue that gave you a sense of what else happened without the details. There were a lot of characters that it was easy to mix up because they didn’t engage with the main part of the story much. But I still enjoyed this, it was an interesting look at AI and corporate greed. 

Drowned Country by Emily Tesh

4.0

Charming but felt a little more hectic than the first one. Almost a little too much going on. 

The Sons of El Rey by Alex Espinoza

4.0

There’s maybe a little too much going on here, but I’m also not sure what I’d suggest cutting. I did enjoy seeing the parallels and echoes between generations play out, and I thought the characters were very sympathetic. 

What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama

4.0

This is a charming set of interconnected stories, all focused on people finding new meaning in their life. I do wish we’d gotten a final story about

the librarian or the library assistant

, though.