ashleys_little_library's reviews
813 reviews

3.5 stars - I liked the writing of this (even though the passive voice and second person was a bit annoying) and the suspense building but it was mostly just okay. Not many twists or thrills, more of a slow-burn psychological story.

I’m not a big romance reader anymore (I used to primarily read romance and love them) and reading one reminded me why. Romance writing always feels cheesy to me now. I hate the lack of communication as a plot device—just talk to each other will you?!—when the sex scenes feel driven by hormones rather than real ~feelings~ and when a guy is just sooooo in love with the main character even though she doesn’t really have any noticeably amazing qualities??

So in reality, reading this was more of a 1-2 star experience for me, but I can’t blame the book for that. As far as romances go, it was okay. If you’re a romance reader wondering if you should read this book, sure!! Ignore my review. I just like to be honest so in the future I can remember how I really felt about books.

Simply incredible. If you need something fast-paced with lots of drama and twists, this isn’t for you. But if you can appreciate a slow burn domestic drama following complex characters through the challenges of life, this is gold.

In the latter half of this book, I had to pause several times to just let myself cry. This story is so touching and beautifully written. It is real. It is raw.

Typically I find myself preferring slice of life stories rather than following characters through a super long stretch of their life, but this book kept me captivated. It’s a beautiful, heartbreaking story about forgiveness, family, love, acceptance, and healing. Incredible.

I can certainly understand why many people may really enjoy this book, but it just didn’t work for me. I found the characters wildly unlikeable amid their many many flaws which made it difficult for me to root for any type of success for any of them. Also, many of the relationship issues stemmed from a clear lack of communication, which is more frustrating than dramatic from a reading standpoint. I just wasn’t into it. I’m looking for more in a story than just an angsty on again off again type relationship. I honestly don’t even know what the characters would’ve seen in each other.

I always love a good “how would you live your life if you knew your future” story so this was sure to be a hit for me. It took my be surprise, especially the second half of the book. I definitely didn’t expect it to go the direction it did and expected what happened in the end to happen more in the middle of the story and then see more from there but I still really enjoyed it. A beautifully sad, touching story about love, friendship, and what we do with the little precious time we are given in this world.

Definitely don’t regret reading this and appreciated the homage to classic mystery stories, it just didn’t do much for me. I couldn’t really connect to the characters or care much about them so the stakes were pretty low for me. And then in the plot twist I wasn’t surprised/blown away/invested. Overall just okay for me. Want to try more of Peter Swanson’s books for sure!

This book was incredible in a very subtle way. A younger version of myself may have read this book and felt like nothing really happened because of this (and I could see some readers still feeling this way) but I really appreciated how the simplicity of the plot allowed the complexity of the characters to shine.

Such a Fun Age touches on some really heavy topics like race, class, and privilege in a very accessible way. I’m really glad I took the time to read this book and understand what all the hype’s about! I’ll be thinking about this one for a while.

It’s only fair to start by saying I don’t really read fantasy. But the reasons I didn’t like The Starless Sea are not just because it’s a fantasy. I had a couple big problems/disappointments:

- I liked the premise and setup of the story, but I felt like there wasn’t much of a plot driving the story forward. At any point, I could’ve sat this book down and forgot about it, but I pushed through since I was intentionally challenging myself.

- There were several points where I just had no idea what was going on because of how abstract it was. It’s hard to get absorbed in a story you keep getting lost in.

- I was super hype for the m/m romance, but it fell short of my expectations. It was just like, all of a sudden they were in love? In a 500 page story I expected some build up and tension.

- I liked the short stories interspersed between the main narrative more than the main narrative itself. So that’s.. not great haha.

That’s the long and short of it. Overall I was just disappointed, but I’ve heard The Night Circus is way better so I’m still willing to give that a shot.

And just to balance the scales, what I did enjoy about The Starless Seas it the atmosphere it builds. Particularly when reading some of the short stories I could feel the cold snowy weather or hear the lapping of the wind. Definitely good writing, just not the story for me.

I really enjoyed Glennon’s story and reading about how she carved her own life, her own path for herself. It’s empowering, insightful, and honest. If I ever have children, I feel like it will be great to pick back up then because of how much she talks about how we shape our children. Definitely a thought-provoking read that I’ll be sitting on for a while as I learn to embrace my inner goddamn cheetah.

I gave this book 3.5 stars, which was disappointing because I really thought it’d be a 5 star read for me. I love the setup of the story and the overall plot, plus I can’t get enough of books that develop a suspenseful tone through an ominous setting, but this was just a little slow paced for me.

On top of that, I’m not super into ghost stories. I really enjoy books that allude to the possibility of the supernatural, or the supernatural seems to be at play before a real life circumstance comes into the light, but this story hinges on the suspension of your disbelief when it comes to ghosts which just isn’t for me.

I almost put it down about halfway through once I realized this and was feeling bogged down by the pacing, but I pushed through. What I did like about this book was it’s unapologetic spotlighting of badass women. That I can get down with.

So overall while this wasn’t my ideal thriller, it wasn’t bad and if you’re into ghost stories I think you’d really like it.