squil's reviews
34 reviews

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Hmm interesting.
I appreciated that rather than an outside force “corrupting” Jeanette, her upbringing within the church was enough to lead her to question the church and her religion. She’s raised in an environment that fostered her own self confidence as she was expected to be a missionary and was always praised for unique talents, treated somewhat like a prophet. This same sense of self and intelligence leading to her conflict with the church felt authentic and reasonable. She was largely guided by her own gut feelings,  relationship with God, and understanding of her religion, which made the hypocrisy of her church’s teachings all the more obvious to her as she came to these conclusions on her own.

I feel like I need to do some bible reading to get all the references especially with the chapters being named after books of the bible because I suspect there are more connections than the ones I noticed. Still, I definitely got a few good chuckles from Jeanette’s blunt observations of Christianity, religion, and the church. 
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The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

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adventurous challenging mysterious 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

Really interesting book. I liked all the science elements, especially about octopus. Ending was meh but honestly it seemed like a hard story to wrap up and I was kind of expecting worse.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

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reflective slow-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

3.5

honestly all the characters were very complex and thought out but it was SLOW (which probably goes without saying since it took me 10 months to read)
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

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adventurous mysterious 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

4.5

liked it a lot, but i think the second book is still my favorite of the series.
i do have a bone to pick: why can't people in this book ever just stay dead. like if you are gonna kill someone then commit to it, you can't just keep making whoever you want immortal and bringing whoever you want back from the dead. also feyre's father coming back was just not believable. other than those qualms, i liked seeing feyre as high lady, she cool with that, tho sometimes maybe a little too confident considering everyone else has like centuries of life experience on her. cassian and nesta will be my favorite romance, i can already tell.
The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez

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funny reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I picked up this book just because I thought the cover was pretty. The narration of the book was unexpected for me. I thought for a while that the narrator was Sigrid herself because not only was the narrator a writer, but the writing felt so much like a memoir. The narrator constantly acknowledged that a memoir is a mix of fact and fiction because our memories are faulty. The book felt so strikingly honest with the narrator either acknowledging her own flaws directly or giving the reader enough detail to see for themselves. Still, the narrator keeps themselves as a redeemable and lovable character. As a young adult, I was most interested in the interactions between the narrator and the college-aged man who comes to live with her (so I enjoyed the second half of the book best). It felt like I was getting a new angle of how young adults are understood by other people. Overall, this was a somewhat soothing, reflective read and I'm glad it had a pretty cover. 
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A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

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adventurous dark 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

4.0

much better than book 1
now this is how you write enemies to lovers, wasn’t really shocked by the mating bond thing but still cool, oh why we just making everyone immortal now like nesta and elain??? and lucien and elain having a mating bond eh whatever, feyre’s plan at the end was great and even though lucien seems to know she is lying it doesn’t really matter cause that boy don’t do nothing, he just follows around tamlin like whatever, also high lady YES
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

meh, could’ve been better (my low opinion could also be due to the fact that i listened to the audiobook and i think i just don’t like audiobooks) 
tamlin boring, feyre cool, rhysand hot, lucien should grow a spine
Slade House by David Mitchell

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dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

All the way until the end I really did like this book. It was incredibly mysterious and from the point of the view of the victims of Slade House, I never knew what had been real and what had been fake.
I still liked the ending, but it didn't leave me completely satisfied. I think it began to get too caught up in all the specifics of Slade House and the Grayer twins.
Overall though, I generally did enjoy this book, but just got a little lost in some of the jargon. The narrator of each section was unique and distinctive. I followed them through Slade House, and each character had a new experience and feelings toward their situation, life, etc.. 
Circe by Madeline Miller

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I thought this book was going to be a five star, blow me out of the water. Expectations were too high going in. I still enjoyed the book though and will continue reading Madeline Miller. She is a fantastic storyteller and can make her readers feel connected to mythology. 
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The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

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4.0

I enjoyed the split perspectives and the morning and afternoon thing was cool when it was just Rachel riding on the train, but it started to get unnecessarily  confusing as the book progressed. Each female character was interesting and the choice to show the story through each of them was too. I find it very difficult to give a mystery a five star though. This book was good. The reveal was not incredibly surprising nor incredibly predictable. I think for a mystery to be really good, I need to fell like I am learning with the characters or shouting at them as I can see what’s happening. While I did neither, I would still recommend this book as a classic mystery with a twist on the perspectives.