Scan barcode
toastyghosty13's reviews
156 reviews
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
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
4.0
Vera Wong is such a funny character and I wish I had her in my life. She is a an grandma with too much time on her hands and loves to meddle in peoples business. When she finds a dead body in her tea shop, she seizes the moment to try to solve the mystery. She quickly starts meddling in the lives of the people that visit the tea shop after the murder, since she has the theory that anyone with a guilty conscience would revisit the scene of the crime. What happens is the creation of wonderful friendships between an unlikely group of strangers, and the rekindling of an old friendship.
The audiobook for this is great, Eunice Wong has a great voice and did all of the impressions so well. It really takes another level of skill to sound like a 3 year old child, an old Chinese grandmother, a 23 year old woman, and more and be just 1 person doing all of these voices. My fiancee and I have started saying "AYAHHH" whenever we are upset about a small inconvenience now because Eunice's portrayal of Vera et al is ICONIC. I also now wish to name my firstborn Tilbert.
We mainly listened to this book during car rides and it was something we dearly looked forward to. It is actually laugh out loud funny, which rarely happens for me with books. This was a very cute story, but is also filled with some dark topics when more is revealed about the characters and their relationship to the victim.
If you like murder mysteries with a Miss Marple-esque character, you need to read this immediately!!
The audiobook for this is great, Eunice Wong has a great voice and did all of the impressions so well. It really takes another level of skill to sound like a 3 year old child, an old Chinese grandmother, a 23 year old woman, and more and be just 1 person doing all of these voices. My fiancee and I have started saying "AYAHHH" whenever we are upset about a small inconvenience now because Eunice's portrayal of Vera et al is ICONIC. I also now wish to name my firstborn Tilbert.
We mainly listened to this book during car rides and it was something we dearly looked forward to. It is actually laugh out loud funny, which rarely happens for me with books. This was a very cute story, but is also filled with some dark topics when more is revealed about the characters and their relationship to the victim.
If you like murder mysteries with a Miss Marple-esque character, you need to read this immediately!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Murder and Gaslighting
The Blonde Identity by Ally Carter
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This is a funny book that doesn't take itself too seriously. It is about a woman that wakes up and cannot remember who she is, but very quickly finds out that her identical twin is a spy that is currently on the run from multiple intelligence agencies around the world as well as cartels. She learns to cope with having to be on the run with a hot spy guy that happens to be her twin sisters partner.
I listened to the audiobook of this, and I do wish that they had done the reading a bit differently. This audiobook was read by both a man and a woman, each reading the chapters for the respective POVs of the male main char and female main char. This mean that, if it was the female main char POV, the female voice actor would also read the male parts, and vice versa for the male main char POV, with the male voice actor also reading the female main char dialogue. I feel that if there are already going to be 2 different voice actors, they might as well have them read for the proper parts. I mainly say this because the male voice actor reading for the female main character made her sound annoying and bratty, which made it a bit less enjoyable for me when I actually did enjoy the female main character for the most part.
This is a fun read and was a great first step into audiobooks for me. I thought it was a great book to listen to because it's not overly complicated and just meant to be a goofy fun time.
I listened to the audiobook of this, and I do wish that they had done the reading a bit differently. This audiobook was read by both a man and a woman, each reading the chapters for the respective POVs of the male main char and female main char. This mean that, if it was the female main char POV, the female voice actor would also read the male parts, and vice versa for the male main char POV, with the male voice actor also reading the female main char dialogue. I feel that if there are already going to be 2 different voice actors, they might as well have them read for the proper parts. I mainly say this because the male voice actor reading for the female main character made her sound annoying and bratty, which made it a bit less enjoyable for me when I actually did enjoy the female main character for the most part.
This is a fun read and was a great first step into audiobooks for me. I thought it was a great book to listen to because it's not overly complicated and just meant to be a goofy fun time.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood
Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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? No
3.5
This was a tense conclusion to the book Divine Rivals. I found it incredibly slow and hard to read, but this is not due to the quality of writing. I found this book so slow due to the absolute panic and stress I maintained throughout its entirety that something bad would happen to Iris and Roman. They are so precious to me and this book had me afraid to finish it on the chance that it would break my heart.
I do wish that there was more of a final showdown with Dacre at the end, and it also felt like a strange cop out to have Enva unable to help or leave the city limits. I also wish that we saw more of Attie & Tobias, as well as Marisol & Keegan. The deaths of Forrest and Prindle were upsetting to me as well, mainly concerning Prindle since Forrest kind of sucks imo after he dragged Iris away from Roman in Divine Rivals.
This book will absolutely have you on the edge of your seat the entire time. I recommend reading this on a weekend where you have the time to cope with the inevitable anxiety that will ensue.
I do wish that there was more of a
This book will absolutely have you on the edge of your seat the entire time. I recommend reading this on a weekend where you have the time to cope with the inevitable anxiety that will ensue.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Vomit, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death
Official Google Cloud Certified Professional Data Engineer Study Guide by Dan Sullivan
informative
slow-paced
3.0
1st attempt: found a better resource and this was sooooo dry plus the app you have to read this ebook in sucks
2nd attempt: SO much easier to read and highlight this when it is a physical copy. Shoutout to my coworker who told me I could get the physical copy expensed. This book is quite informative and the physical copy makes a huge difference when flipping back and forth between topics and practice questions.
This book helped me pass my exam. There are so many good practice questions that you can access when you register your book online. I have purchased another book from this author that covers machine learning to study for that exam too.
2nd attempt: SO much easier to read and highlight this when it is a physical copy. Shoutout to my coworker who told me I could get the physical copy expensed. This book is quite informative and the physical copy makes a huge difference when flipping back and forth between topics and practice questions.
This book helped me pass my exam. There are so many good practice questions that you can access when you register your book online. I have purchased another book from this author that covers machine learning to study for that exam too.
Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
this book focused more on building out the secret society that has been chasing after cammie. it was interesting to see the total pivot from the beginning of this series to what this book is: a story of a deeper conspiracy and secret societies. i do wish there was more about zach and cammie together, since they are a cute couple, but it is also great to learn more of his backstory.
if you’re already this deep into the series, def read!!
if you’re already this deep into the series, def read!!
Classified Material by Ally Carter
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
this was a sad alternating pov of cammies friends showing their thoughts after cammie disappears. it’s quite sad because they miss her so much and are so worried about her, yet there is nothing they can do to help.
this is a bonus chapter that is super short.
this is a bonus chapter that is super short.
The Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L. Armentrout
dark
mysterious
tense
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? It's complicated
2.75
i found this book to be soooo frustratingly slow. it started off strong and i really enjoyed the prior 2 books, so i had high hopes. instead, it felt very repetitive of “insert new problem here that arises” and “have to find this artifact/person/location” to get further down the plan, but all of these problems and necessity of key items/persons/locations are seemingly come out of nowhere.
i also was frustrated that the book before this spends soooo long getting to a location, and then finally arrived there at the end, but only because we barely spend any time in the final location during this book and then immediately back track to the location we just came from in the previous book. we spent so long trying to get to atlantia and barely got a good glimpse of it.
i also am getting tired of hearing how strong and courageous and beautiful and brave poppy is. this is one of a multitude of reasons this book could do with some better editing.
i wish i enjoyed this more since i liked the previous books so much. not sure if/when i will get around to the rest of the books in the series and the books in the prequel series.
i also was frustrated that the book before this spends soooo long getting to a location, and then finally arrived there at the end, but only because we barely spend any time in the final location during this book and then immediately back track to the location we just came from in the previous book. we spent so long trying to get to atlantia and barely got a good glimpse of it.
i also am getting tired of hearing how strong and courageous and beautiful and brave poppy is. this is one of a multitude of reasons this book could do with some better editing.
i wish i enjoyed this more since i liked the previous books so much. not sure if/when i will get around to the rest of the books in the series and the books in the prequel series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Blood
Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter
adventurous
challenging
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
another fun book following cammie and the gallagher girls!! i like that this one focused more on macy and cammie, but i do wish i saw more of bex/liz and zach. the twist at the end kinda made the whole book feel a bit out of place/redundant but still an enjoyable read!!
Icebreaker by Hannah Grace
in terms of semantics, i thought this ended up being a cute story of many enjoyable characters. i am not one that usually likes romance novels if there is no fantasy element to it, but i will admit hockey players are a huge weakness for me which def helped. i recommend if you want an easy spicy read to mix it up between other books!
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-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
3.75
i did not expect to like this as much as i did!! this book doesn’t take itself too seriously and it is generally a cute rivals to lovers story with some great side characters.
main complaints:
main complaints:
- weird grammar/sentence structure things throughout the book
- depending on what copy you have, stassies best friend could be either lola or sabrina. i wish mine was the sabrina copy after i learned this bc it seems like she has a lot more of a fun presence and is a deeper character than lola
- the cover of this book looks like a YA cutesy romance novel but this book has an insane amount of descriptive sex, seriously i was not expecting this also the
uber scene stressed me tf out i hated that the epilogue is stassi pregnant. she says at one point that she wants to adopt because she was adopted, so it feels untrue to her character. the reasoning for her pregnancy also bothered me, stating that she threw up her birth control on a morning of high anxiety. i wish the ending had her going to the olympics multiple times, and that it was more than just a measly 2 years later. she deserved as much and it could have done a 5-7 year later of her being pregnant that would have felt less forced aaron deserved to get shat on hard; he got off so easy in the end it’s such a joke. aaron sucks and really should have had a different ending than just transferring to ucla
in terms of semantics, i thought this ended up being a cute story of many enjoyable characters. i am not one that usually likes romance novels if there is no fantasy element to it, but i will admit hockey players are a huge weakness for me which def helped. i recommend if you want an easy spicy read to mix it up between other books!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Gaslighting
Minor: Sexual assault and Vomit
Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I really enjoyed reading this story about 2 rivals at a newspaper and how the dynamic of their relationship changes through war. This book follows Iris and Roman, 2 journalists that work for the Oath Gazette who are both competing for the role of columnist. Their relationship evolves from rivals to friends and more when their lives change after becoming war correspondents. They meet new friends and enemies along the way, and some secrets unfold. It is hard to say too much without spoilers, but this is a great story about love, rivalry, war, the beauty of writing, friendship, and more. I highly recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Death and Death of parent