shellballenger's reviews
484 reviews

Type of read: Commuter Read

What made me pick it up: BookTok and my book club made me do it.

Overall rating: Whew...not going to lie, 'Priest' is a doozy. I don't know if it's the fact that I grew up in a very religious household and then found myself a bit as I got out of college, but there was something that went straight to my heart with 'Priest.' Tyler clearly has a savior complex (duh) for both his sister and Poppy and I'm not sure that Simone does the best job of explaining why he seemingly went from bad boy heartthrob to clergy cutie trying to maintain his purity. Yeah, you get the little lines of 'this is why I do it...' or 'I have to remember my purpose...' but it's not super realistic the way that Tyler's storyline seems to develop.

There are quite a few good quips and lines, but overall 'Priest' feels like it juuuusssssst isn't quite there and could be so much deeper and impactful. Although not every book needs to be deep and impactful in the same way...and there are plenty of deep and impactful things happening between these pages, it's just not emotions or storyline. 😂 I do like the juxtaposition of the priest and the stripper, the good and the bad, the worthy and the broken. And as far as the spicy scenes go - praise Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, they are written VERY well. However, if you're sensitive to the use of a specific four-letter C-word to describe female anatomy, this isn't the book for you. I've already recommended 'Priest' to multiple people and I finished it in less than 24 hours, so realistically, for me at least, it was a good read.

Reader's Note:  'Priest' includes themes of suicide, religious trauma, sexual assault and rape (related to the main character's backstory but not actively part of the sexual scenes in the book), and consensual sexual relationships including light BDSM.

Type of read: Lunch/Weekend Read

What made me pick it up: One of the TN R.E.A.D.s prompts for August was to read an epistolary novel or collection of letters. The description for 'An American Marriage' seemed like something I would enjoy.

Overall rating: I enjoyed 'An American Marriage.' It was real and raw, as someone married for over 15 years, I could feel the emotions and almost transport myself into the conversations Roy and Celeste had about love, being together, and the future. Some of the book moved a bit slowly for me, but it all worked into the story in the end. Overall, I'm glad I came across this one!

Reader's Note:  'An American Marriage' includes themes of sex, violence, death, rape, and racism.

Type of read: Commuter Read

What made me pick it up: We're planning a trip to Germany in December and many times I'll try to match some of my reading content to upcoming travels and adventures. Additionally, I was a huge fan of 'The Tattooist of Auschwitz' and when the description for 'The German Wife' mentioned that book, it all clicked.

Overall rating: Oof. 'The German Wife' might be one of my top books for 2024. There is so much weaving through these pages and it's absolutely heartbreakingly, beautiful. The juxtaposition of the two main characters is very well done and you can feel the emotions of each character through their tellings of their experiences. 'The German Wife' is told from dual perspectives (Sofie and Lizzie) and there is quite a bit of time jumping (1930s to 1950s); however, the author does a great job of labeling each chapter/section so you know exactly who is talking and what year it is. Even enjoying it as an audiobook, it was probably one of the easier dual perspective/time jumpers I've read in a while.

As a US citizen, I find some of the situations in the book compared to our current political climate incredibly frustrating and devastating to read. There's a line, fairly early on in the book, where they talk about history and that if we don't learn from it, it's bound to repeat itself and I just feel like it was one of those gut-punch moments in the book where you realize the severity of what's happening - both in the book and daily life in general. That's not to say you haven't realized the severity before...it's just again brought to the forefront and you start wondering how a nation could allow themselves to get to such a point when they've seen or even experienced it happening before.

Overall, I feel like Rimmer did a great job of capturing the tension, questions, and struggles of the characters and their life. I would 100% recommend 'The German Wife.' I also have to say that Nancy Peterson and Ann Marie Gideon did amazing jobs at the narration. Especially when you're listening to a book that has accent work, it's so nice when the character is still clear and easy to understand. Both of these individuals put so much emotion and thought into their narrations and it truly made the book shine.

Reader's Note: 'The German Wife' includes themes of antisemitism, torture, death, suicide, loss of a parent, alcoholism, depression, and PTSD.

Type of read: Commuter Read

What made me pick it up:  I had read 'A Touch of Darkness' and honestly, wasn't the biggest fan but it wasn't horrible. I recently found myself in the middle of a bunch of serious books and just needed something that I knew I wouldn't have to think with and that had just enough spiciness to be a complete change from the serious reads I have going.

Overall rating: If it's possible, Persephone becomes even more of a sniveling, wishy-washy, no-backbone character who doesn't know how to hold up her side of the story. I'm not a fan of the progression of two characters in particular. One makes sense but was done sloppily

Lexa

and the other makes no sense and feels like an afterthought

Pirithous

. I also refuse to believe that Hades and Persephone have been together so long and Hades hasn't mentioned the no-go spots in the Underworld...or you know

the places that will legitimately mess with your mind if you go there.

You'd also think that Persephone would just be smart enough to figure out how not to keep putting herself in danger in the very world she's going to be queen of. Ugh, I hate that 'A Touch of Ruin' was such a good distraction read, it makes it harder to hate it. 😂

Reader's Note: 'A Touch of Ruin' includes themes of stalking, conversations of rape, suicide, death, sex, blackmail, retaliation, and torture.

Type of read: Commuter Read

What made me pick it up: One of the TN R.E.A.D.s prompts for October is to read a book by a Hispanic or Latinx author. The title and cover art drew me in.

Overall rating: I struggled with this one. I didn't find the stories to be all that entertaining and I had to keep reminding myself to put this one on to listen (I read as an audiobook). I'm not sure if there's something missing in the translation (I read an English translation) or if I just wasn't getting into the content. Some stories were better than others in my opinion, but many of them just seemed like random diary entries of overly imaginative individuals. Maybe I expect more scare and thrill from my thriller/horrors, but this wasn't it for me. I probably wouldn't recommend it, but I'm glad I was exposed to some different authors from who I usually read.

Reader's Note: 'A Sunny Place for Shady People' includes multiple stories that include themes of sex, sexual assault, rape, death, dying, torture, dismemberment, supernatural activity, general assault, and witchcraft.

Type of read: Commuter Read.

What made me pick it up: 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' has always been on my TBR and I'm slowly making my way through that very long list.

Overall rating: I'm sure I read 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' sometime during high school, but I can't for the life of me remember. As I make my way through a miles-long TBR, I've been deliberate about making sure that classics are included. There's a certain brilliant mundanity to 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' that almost makes you forget who the characters are and what setting they are in. McMurphy, Brombden, and the other chronics and acutes at the institution are simply trying to live their lives and maintain what sense of individuality and freedom they have - whether that be when or where they can go somewhere, what they watch on the television, or how they interact with one another and those charged with their welfare. In a classic us versus them mentality, the patients of the institution work to see how far they can push it before they, and the institution's staff, reach their breaking point.

Reader's Note: 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Next' takes place in a psychological institution and focuses heavily on the mental health, patterns, habits, and day-to-day of the patients and staff of the institution. It should also be noted, the original publication year of the book was 1962. Times have changed from 1962 to 2024 and certain phrases, terms, and imagery that were once unquestioned may have a different response as we have grown and learned as people.

Type of read: Commuter Read

What made me pick it up: One of the TN R.E.A.D.s prompts for October is to read a book by a Hispanic or Latinx author. I'm a sucker for "lost" novels.

Overall rating: HOLY FREAKING CRAP. 'Until August' is beautiful. It's tragic and real and honest and painful. The story of a woman finding herself, questioning herself, and just trying to be. 100% would recommend.

Type of read: Commuter Read.

What made me pick it up: 'Hard Girls' had been on my TBR for quite a while, I think it was the cover art and description that got me. I also used it for the TN R.E.A.D.s challenge of reading a book that’s thrilling or chilling. Based on the description, I picked it for this prompt before reading, so we'll see if it's truly a thriller.

Overall rating:  I think 'Hard Girls' is one of the first books I've read in a really long time that I didn't see coming. The storyline kept evolving and growing while still making sense and staying true to the characters and what ultimately made them who they are. I very much enjoyed the twists and turns Lennon took us on as we learned more about Jane and Lila and how they came to be who they are today. There are multiple time jumps in 'Hard Girls' as you go back and forth from Jane and Lila's childhood to the present day - so if you're reading it in the audio version, just be aware that you need to keep an ear on that. They are always at chapter breaks, which is nice (and appreciated), but there are times when it flows so well from one to the other that if you're not listening to your chapter breaks you could get confused. I don't know if I can say that 'Hard Girls' was what I would typically think of as a thriller/suspense...but I can see where it leans into those genres a bit—definitely a mystery/crime book. Overall, very happy I stumbled across 'Hard Girls' and I've already recommended it.

Reader's Note: 'Hard Girls' includes drug and alcohol use, espionage, incarceration, assault, sexual assault, and attempted rape of an underage individual while unconscious. 

Type of read: Commuter Read.

What made me pick it up:  True crime will always be a guilty pleasure of mine.

Overall rating: It's obviously hard to rate a book that's written based on true happenings. The author isn't creating a character and storyline, rather, they are using their gift to give you the details of the character and storyline that experienced the happenings. I feel like McNamara, and those supporting McNamara after their passing, did a great job gathering data, compiling a succinct but detailed telling of the Golden State Killer story, and packaging it in a credible, fact-based way while still making it interesting to take in as a book.

Reader's Note: It should be obvious with the subject of the book, but 'I'll Be Gone in the Dark' includes intense descriptions of rape, murder, stalking, and assault. There are also medical descriptions of the victims, the Golden State Killer's physical attributes including genitalia, and in-depth descriptions of what victims were put through.

Type of read: Commuter Read.

What made me pick it up: Yarros sucked me in with the Empyrean series and I was looking for something else to read on my Spotify list. 'Muses & Melodies' was an easy click while I was commuting.

Overall rating: Predictable with a few surprise moments. Clearly, I finished this book in two days so it had to have something that kept me coming back. It was good. I liked the storyline, I liked that it showed the rehab of addiction in a realistic but positive light

and didn't include a relapse

, I liked the characters - no one was super cringe, and I liked the overall idea of 'Muses & Melodies. Maybe I was expecting something less surface-level and more gritty and involved. Either way, I'm not mad that I read it, but I'm not going to be searching out the other stories in the Hush Note lineup. I do think it's always nice when books like this can stand alone or be incorporated with their counterparts. I didn't feel I was missing out on anything not having read 'Lies & Lullabies' and 'Rifts & Refrains.'

I absolutely do not understand why Yarros chose to include the epilogue that included Nixon and Zoey having a child. For me, that completely goes against everything they were built up to be as characters. I know they never said kids were out of the question, but it seemed like it was playing way too much into the white picket fence, this is what we're supposed to be couple, instead of who they had grown to be and become as a couple.

Reader's Note:  'Muses & Melodies' includes themes of drug and alcohol abuse and addiction; rehabilitation; sex;

child abuse; and child death

.