sarah2438's reviews
1046 reviews

Rating a memoir is really hard because you don't want to be critiquing another person's life experience. At the same time, I think that the description of this book was pretty misleading, and that was disappointing for me. I thought there would be more focus on trying to reconcile the vision Ashley had of her father with the idea of a man who committed the same crimes she had experienced upon herself. That was acknowledged briefly a couple of times but Ashley didn't really dig into it. On that same note, I would be curious to see what thought Ashley has given to her father's victims and how she reconciles that with her own experiences. I think it's likely that she is still working on processing that herself. But if that's the case, the memoir shouldn't be advertised in that way. The focus is much more on her growing up and her relationships with her mother and grandmother--  her father remains more of a background figure. 

I think this is for everyone who read Normal People and thought it was profound. I was pretty mid on it, just like I was on this one. I don't feel connected to the characters and think that the narration style keeps the audience at arm's length. I could push through but my attention is wandering and I'm not excited about it, so I think it's time to move on.

We've got a bit of second-book syndrome happening here, with tropes repeated from book one and some uneven pacing- not a whole lot happens for the first two thirds. But on the whole it was still a great time and I'm looking forward to finishing the trilogy. I already have the next audiobook from the library, so I think it'll be very soon!

Finally, an ARC I finished before publication! Almost a full week early, thank you very much. I loved Patrick in the first book and that continues here. He's a sweetheart who loves attention and just does his best. Maisie is now starting puberty, which was sweet to watch but could've used just a bit more depth. Grant could also have used a bit more depth but it was nice to see him start to evolve. I expected a bit more of their stories journeying Europe but was overall happy with the story. As much as I would like to spend more time with these characters, I think this story has done them well, and I think this should be where they end. 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The pacing here was ATTROCIOUS. My god. We solved the mystery at 70% after basically no buildup-- there's no chance to try to guess the killer or riddle it out, it's a totally random person. I think the author just wanted to milk the emotional impact here, which just didn't hit for me. Also, why did we rebrand Eddison as Bran of all things? That nickname is dumb and you can't just do that after 3 books of his name being Eddison.

This was quick and fun. When I got approved for the ARC I wondered if it would be a bit more essay-like (I went in knowing nothing except that I needed to read it) but that was not the case. There's an intro, a list of things to say to men (with some commentary) and a brief closing. I was a little disappointed that so much of this was content from his videos, but I guess that's to be expected. I did like the intro/ conclusion though. Overall I'd recommend if this is your humor and you've only seen one or two of his videos, but if you binge them regularly like I do, you can probably pass.
Big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I can appreciate the art of it and can definitely see the appeal but also, I don't think I actually understood it. That's not on the book, it's totally me just struggling to properly read a graphic novel.

I wish we'd seen some more development from our MC with the way she fixated on those girls-- it was so unhealthy and I don't think she did as much work on herself as she needed. But overall I still recommend, I had no idea about this chapter of history and what horrifying things we've done to people in our own country...

I loved this one! I'm not usually one for short story collections but I thought these were all pretty strong. I really liked the way it went full circle at the end. But I feel the need to clarify that while I did really enjoy it, I would not recommend this widely. These stories are really, really weird.

This was exactly mid but entertaining and a nice break between more intense reads. I liked Hannah's storyline with Josh but I wasn't a fan of Libby and how she basically catfished her love interest.
Had to update to include this quote I forgot I took a picture of: "It's not like I have a story worth documenting. Now, Anne Frank? She had a reason to write in her diary. But Libby Anne Freedman? Not so much."
Okay... you didn't have to do that though. Between this and the occasional cringe pop culture reference (these girls love CoHo 😬) I'm bumping it down to 2.5.