Saturday, March 16, 2024

The Cleaners

 Book 29 of my 2024 Reading Challenge
read on March 16

The Cleaners 
by Ken Liu

My Opinion
4 stars

This short story is part of the Faraway collection available through Prime Reading.  It was an enjoyable read with an interesting premise.  I understand introducing three main characters because they all show different experiences but it also took away from the development by splitting a short story into three POVs.

Friday, March 15, 2024

Pretty Guilty Women

 Book 28 of my 2024 Reading Challenge
read from March 10 - 15

Pretty Guilty Women
by Gina LaManna

My Opinion
3 stars

I'm torn on this book.  It was a fast-paced quick read and I really liked the characters' interactions with each other.  However, there were a lot of things that fit together implausibly to make a perfectly imperfect arc.

It had a weird combination of women spilling secrets within minutes of meeting a stranger yet not communicating with their known friends/partners.  The oversharing was necessary and moved the story along but some of the concerns could've been cleared up very quickly if they had been shared with the actual parties involved instead of strangers.

Just over halfway through I started to form an idea on the victim and circumstances but did not predict the final twist at all.

So all in all, I'm rating it in the middle.  If you can ignore some plotholes and go along for the ride, this would be a good, light read.  But I also can't recommend it wholeheartedly without adding the caveat that it won't stand up to scrutiny.

Monday, March 11, 2024

The Princess Game

 Book 27 of my 2024 Reading Challenge
read on March 11

The Princess Game
by Roman Chainani

My Opinion
1 star

This short story is part of the Faraway collection available through Prime Reading.  It's a miss for me.  I didn't like the format of voice notes, the bumbling detective was more annoying than comedic, and it had a strange ending.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Emmy & Oliver

 Book 26 of my 2024 Reading Challenge
read from March 8 - 10

Emmy & Oliver
by Robin Benway

My Opinion
3 stars

I started reading and before I knew it 100 pages had passed.  It's a very easy style to get sucked into.  Although it took me 3 days to read it, I read it in 2 sittings; there was a day in between where I was too busy to read at all.

So the book was incredibly readable, I liked the dynamics between the characters, and I would definitely read this author again.  So why only 3 stars (and a low 3, almost a 2, rating at that)?  The situation that led to the 10 years apart was too contrived and then the ending was even worse.  I think the book either needed to be the light read it was the majority of the time and find another reason to create tension and drama, or it needed to dive more into the kidnapping.  This book didn't really do justice to either one...I was overlooking it until the resolution at the end and I just absolutely couldn't get behind it.

Friday, March 8, 2024

Wildhood

 Book 25 of my 2024 Reading Challenge
read from February 20 - March 8

Wildhood: The Epic Journey from Adolescence to Adulthood in Humans and Other Animals

My Opinion
4 stars

The title and description is accurate so if the book looks interesting I would say it's worth the reader's time.  I'm not an expert on any of these topics but when there are 51 pages of notes in a 355 page book it seems well-researched.

The very first paragraph sums up what to expect from the book.
"Wildhood, the shared experience of adolescence across species, begins with the physical changes of puberty and ends when an individual has acquired four essential life skills. To become successful adults, all Earth's animals must learn how to: stay safe; negotiate social status; navigate sexuality; and live as adults."

They primarily focused on four wild animals biologists tracked through adolescence and beyond: Ursula the king penguin, Shrink the spotted hyena, Salt the humpback whale, and Slavc the European wolf.

The prologue felt like reading a textbook but the rest of the book had a narrative approach and was much smoother and more readable.

I'm a softie who can't watch animal documentaries and even this book teeters close...it "humanizes" the animals so I felt sad when they were bullied or had to leave their parents but I also cheered for them when they succeeded.  I had an especially soft spot for Shrink.




UNSUB

 Book 24 of my 2024 Reading Challenge
read from March 3 - 7

UNSUB
by Meg Gardiner

My Opinion
5 stars

Fuuuuuck.  This was a trip from start to finish.  Perfect pacing because I didn't skip ahead at all.  I love to read thrillers yet have a low tolerance for the uncomfortable feeling so I usually have to find a spoiler and relieve some tension.  With this book I was incredibly tempted twice but I didn't peek.

I had to get up and take a lap about halfway through after a particular reveal.  It didn't feel right (and wasn't right) but it was such a gut check.  And the ending added one more little punch to wrap things up.

However, after raving about this book, I probably won't continue the series.  My library only had the first one and the main reason I liked this book was the case itself (which was solved) and the dynamic between some of the characters that would not be continuing in future books.  I'd probably read more if I saw them but I'm not seeking them out.


Sunday, March 3, 2024

The Echo of Old Books

 Book 23 of my 2024 Reading Challenge
read from February 27 - March 2

The Echo of Old Books
by Barbara Davis

My Opinion
5 stars

First of all, what a lovely gift, to be able to feel the emotions of the previous owners of the books she holds.  I understand there would be downsides of sadness and/or fear but the character reveres books as a reader and a bookstore owner and I can see how this would add an extra layer to her already enthusiastic reading.

5 stars because I read about 90% of it in the span of one day; I just kept coming back to it and was thinking about it when I wasn't reading it.  

This one hit me.  I'm not going to overanalyze it because 5 stars are usually more about how they made me feel.  It may not connect with everyone but it did with me.

The story progressed nicely and the circumstances teetered justthisclose to believable.  Having it set in the 80's helped with some of the reveals; you couldn't just get on the Internet and have answers in minutes.

The ending was a little cheesy but I don't mind having everything wrapped up with a little bow.