tayahmarie's reviews
91 reviews

Always and Forever by Beverly Jenkins

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adventurous emotional funny informative lighthearted tense 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

5.0

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

5.0

Cheers to the best YA Romance book of the year! At least to me, lol. I remember seeing so many of my mutuals posting reviews of this book and they were right. This story was beautiful, wholesome, a breath of fresh air, and oh-so-sweet. 

Prince and Dani quickly became two of my favorite fictional characters. From their playful banter to their teenage innocence when it came to love was very compelling… I just couldn’t get enough of them! Prince especially resonated with me seeing as though he had to take care of and worry about a parent who has a chronic illness. I haven’t felt this seen by a book since I read about Starr in The Hate U Give. It’s always so nice to be able to see yourself reflected in media 🥹

Despite this book being a romance book at its core, I also found the hard-hitting topics and commentary so real and raw. LaDelle hit the nail on the head in showing that Black people deserve to love and be loved without consequence. No trauma. No hardship. No struggle. Just love. I also adored the friendships in here and how charming they all were!

Final Thoughts: Overall, I 1000% recommend! Also, if you grew up watching (and rewatch them like I do lol) classic Black romance movies such as Love & Basketball, Love Jones, Brown Sugar, etc. then pick this up for sure. The little nods and odes to those warmed my heart, too 😭💗
All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This has mostly everything I love in Thrillers; dual timelines, unreliable/morally grey MC, beautiful writing, and a gripping plot!

I’ve said this in the past, but Willingham’s prose is absolutely beautiful! I found myself getting sucked in and swept away by the quotes, phrases, analogies and more that our MC, Isabelle, is made to say and/or think. I truly had to stop myself from annotating the hell out of this book, lol. 

More on Isabelle though… my goodness what a complex and flawed character. I loved it. I genuinely loved peeling back her layers and wanting to understand why she was the way that she was and of course, it all made sense in the end. But the journey was wild! There were so many moments where I liked Isabelle and then didn’t, and then liked her but still didn’t fully trust her… she really did remind me of Chloe (from A Flicker in the Dark) in certain instances and I felt for her (just like I did with Chloe) I really did. 

In addition, this book further solidified how much I adore Psychological Thrillers, ugh! Every time I turned the page I felt like I was collecting all these puzzle pieces but still didn’t have enough to connect them and as we got closer to the end, things started to fall into place and it was so satisfying, lol.  

Final Thoughts: While I loved this, I know this won’t be for everyone. It’s definitely more of a slow-burn, lyrical mystery type of story with Thrilling elements. However, given the commentary on the true crime community, motherhood, womanhood, and so much more, I still think this book packed an important punch and I’ll be thinking about it for awhile. Also, Willingham is officially an auto-buy other for me after this hit 😮‍💨🤌🏾
Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense 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

5.0

Breathtaking. This book was absolutely breathtaking. I only have a handful of authors that come to mind who have beautiful prose, compelling characters, and solid, hard-hitting plots (my personal triple threat) and @kennedyryan1 is one of those authors. I fell in love with her storytelling after I read Long Shot back in May, and knew from that point on that I was going to have to read everything she’s ever written! Lol.

Yasmen and Josiah’s journey prior to/back to one another was devastating and gut-wrenching in every sense of the word. I physically felt my chest tighten during certain chapters because of how brutal shit got for them. My empathy for them (and their family) knew no bounds when it came to their recovery. That said, I did love the mental health and therapy rep. Due to the commentary on those topics among so much more - i.e., motherhood, d*ath/grief, self-love, etc. I genuinely think this book will lead to much-needed discussions surrounding these topics and why it shouldn’t be taboo to talk about them. 

I could go on and on about how much I loved this story (check out my recent reading vlog at 12:30 PM ET b/c I did just that 🫢) so the last thing I’ll say is that I felt seen so seen! I saw so much of myself and even bits and parts of my own family/boyfriend in The Wades’. From the tense moments all the way to the sweet, intimate ones, I loved them and was frustrated by them all the same, lol. I truly had such an emotional yet amazing experience tabbing this book.

Final Thoughts: Overall, I 100% recommend if you can handle the triggers. Kennedy Ryan’s books ALWAYS have something more and ALWAYS pack a punch. At its core, this is slice of life, but there is also a beautiful love story that is reborn even in the most darkest of times.
Bunny by Mona Awad

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 39%.
Nonsensical and exhausting. I did enjoy the minute similarities between the group and the Heathers. So, yay? 
It's Not TV: The Spectacular Rise, Revolution, and Future of HBO by Felix Gillette, John Koblin

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informative medium-paced

4.0

I majored in Public Relations in college so the media fanatic in me had a great time seeing the parallels from HBO of yesteryear to today. Many elements from their OG business model and what made them successful in the beginning still rings true; remaining cutting-edge, constantly pushing the envelope, and most importantly, entertaining its audiences. They’re a cultural force for a reason! Also, special shout out to S*x and the City, S*x Lives of College Girls, and Euphoria 😂

Besides learning the history of the rise and turbulent eras of HBO, the other thing that interested me was hearing from former employees who described the company as ‘dazzling’ in its early stages due to the luxe offices, gyms, expensive retreats, etc. It’s interesting b/c once the true nature of the company culture is revealed, HBO becomes somewhat of Gatsby-esque cautionary tale - i.e, the decadence ofc, but also that moral decay. This book doesn’t hold back and informs the reader of how much (and still to an extent) of a boys club the company was. The irony that the culture was as misogynistic, raunchy, violent, and scandalous as some of its content is fascinating and disturbing. Life imitating art and whatnot. We still have a long way to go of course, but I am thankful that we’re actually having conversations surrounding toxic/harmful work environments and just Me Too as a whole. 

Final Thoughts: Overall, I recommend if you are really interested in media and enjoy deep-dives into cultural history! Gillette & Koblin did a fantastic job on this book. It was also fun going down memory lane and revisiting some of HBO’s most notable shows and how they came to be. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
We Had to Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets

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dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I’m still trying to articulate my thoughts on this, but one thing I know for sure is that this is as psychological as you can get. Truly. The actual horrific aspect of this book focuses on how clicking through a lot of hateful, bigoted, and violent content can genuinely distort your mind and reshape your world view. Reading about these characters slowly becoming indoctrinated into certain extremist groups, fully believing in harmful conspiracy theories, finding community in the most darkest corners of the internet, etc. when this was supposed to be a job and only a job in some of their eyes, was fascinating and downright terrifying. This story reiterates how easy it is for people to start believing in things (and maybe didn’t before) they continue to see over and over again on the internet, whether they actively insert themself into or stumble upon that space.

I did want to note that I’m still torn on both Kayleigh and Sigrid… I understood the meaning  behind their relationship but I feel like there was just something missing. Like their relationship was supposed to matter way more to the reader than it did, and it just didn’t? Lol. 

Final Thoughts: While I did enjoy this book for making me think more critically of how being a content moderator affects the person in that role day in and day out, I don’t think this book was necessarily groundbreaking. It really is a straight shot of a plot IMO. People work a f*cked up job, only to be f*cked up by it as time progresses. I think if you keep in mind of how psychological horror/thrillers are intended to scare you then you might enjoy this, but if you’re looking for this to really play up the physical, gory horror, then this isn’t that. 
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

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dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I never read this Classic before and wanted to do so before I read Horseman by Christina Henry, but this was just eh. I found myself skipping a lot in the first half of the book and once I got to the actual tale of the headless horseman (in the second half lol) then I found it interesting and kind of creepy. 
Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I have to say that this one kept me entertained from beginning to end! Rock, Paper, Scissors is one of my favorite Thrillers and still my favorite by Feeney to date, and that’s mostly due to her writing style (very creepy and ominous! Perfect for this time of year) and sharp-left, shocking twists! I was constantly trying to work out who was really the villain in this story and why… and once all was revealed I was left stunned. Also the way in which specific characters met their demise was clever. However, it was towards the end that really got me going and made me horrified - the true meaning behind the quote in this caption still gives me the chills; Feeney is great at playing with the readers psyche. 

The reason why I’m rating this a bit low is because although I was entertained, I felt like the reveal of everything was a bit goofy and so far-fetched that I had to stop and think about what I just read for a moment… and y’all know I’m one for campy and outlandish books, but this one just didn’t for it for me in that regard. 

Final Thoughts: Overall, I’m still torn on this one! Lol. It had all of the elements that I love in these types of stories, but as I mentioned above the reveal was just eh. However, I still plan on picking up the rest of Feeney’s books and giving them a read because I feel like she has the potential to be a favorite Thriller author of mine.