booklistqueen's reviews
612 reviews

Kelly's WWII novelization of the story of the Ravensbrück Rabbits, a group of Polish women horribly experimented on during the war was educational if not exactly emotional. Since Caroline and Herta were real individuals, Lilac Girls you don't get the satisfying wrap up you could if the novel was completely fictional. Instead, you just learn another horrible thing that happened during WWII which, while interesting, doesn't captivate the attention since Kelly doesn't play on your emotions. 

I usually can find literary merit in most of the books I read and I rarely give out anything less than three stars. But when you sit and stare at a blank wall over reading another sentence of a book, you know you have a one-star read in hand. Haig wants to revel in the awe of the universe in every single moment of every single page. Three pages on orange juice. Three pages on the degrees of infinity. Three pages contemplating this and three pages contemplating that. The Life Impossible was all the wrong combination of boring and odd and I would vehemently suggest you skip this one. 

And the winner for the most dull thriller I've read this year goes to Middle of the Night. On its surface, the premise of Sager's latest release seems like an atmospheric slow burn mystery. Instead, Middle of the Night was just slow. Sager veered into the paranormal but forgot to add any creepiness or excitement. I was just bored to tears and am rather surprised I even finished the book. 

In the ninth Inspector Gamache novel, Louise Penny finally concludes of the overarching Arnaut plot (at least I think she does). How the Light Gets In has a good mix of action and character stories, bouncing between a Three Pines-contingent mystery and the internal division of the Sûreté. Honestly, it feels likes it could have been a wrapping up point for the series, so I'm curious to see what new direction Penny will take the books after this one. 

I find Britain's Green Rider series compulsively readable, and in the third book in the series, Britain is not afraid to go heavy on supernatural elements of her world. Just as action-based as the others, The High King's Tomb heavily focuses Karigan's fight against her feelings for King Zachary. Karigan's interesting mission adds an adversary that will play a bigger role in the forthcoming books. I also enjoyed seeing Karigan mature as a green rider as she mentors younger riders. 

I'm totally biased but I really love the Green Rider series. First Rider's Call fleshes out the Karigan's world more, adding character development and diving deeper into the magical elements that are prominent throughout the remainder of the series. Karigan is your typical "chosen one," yet I enjoy watching her fight against her fate. Although rarely mentioned, I will say that upon a reread, I'm not a fan of the age difference between Karigan and King Zachary. It's the part of the story that has not aged well. 

I devoured the Green Rider books when my third child was born; they were the only thing that kept me sane during those last few miserable days before his birth. So I was curious to see if my opinion of them would hold up on a re-read. I'm glad to say that I am devouring them once again. Green Rider is more of a standard young adult fantasy: heavy on the travelogue as Karigan completes a death-defying mission. It hits all the regular tropes of the genre (and has horses) and is so much fun to read. 

T. J. Newman seems to have found her niche with pure action novels about airplane crews. Although she doesn't leave much room for character development, I love how well she sprinkles in information about the duties of a flight crew during a disaster into his gripping reads. Although having the estranged spouses on both sides of the rescue was far-fetched and cliffhanger chapter endings are rather cliche, Drowning is such a page-turning shot of adrenaline that is so satisfying to read. I highly suspect Newman's novels will eventually be adapted to film. 

Is it as WWII drama? A family epic? A long slog without much point? The Whalebone Theatre was a very mixed bag for me. Quinn takes her time wandering through different periods in Cristabel's life. The writing was enchanting and unhurried, delving into the lives of the unusual Seagrave family and exploring character motivation along the way. Yet, the incongruity between the WWII spy action I was expecting from the publisher's description and the character-driven literary piece was completely distracting. 

I've read all of the thrillers Sarah Pekkanen has written with Greer Hendricks so it was interesting to see what she can do on her own. House of Glass is a domestic thriller that perfectly paints the unsettling feeling of a creepy child like Rose. The plot felt more realistic than many psychological thrillers and ended with plenty of action. Yet, I didn't love the narrator and felt her backstory and personal life was a distraction, pulling you away from the incredible tension with the Barclay family.