booksandbraids's reviews
1863 reviews

I enjoyed what I learned from this book but by the end I was ready for it to be done.

Random thoughts while reading…

- So not only is this family responsible for the opioid crisis, they also basically destroyed the pharmaceutical industry in general! Arthur Sackler is part of the reason why medicine costs so much! Medicine would be so much better if it wasn’t a competition for profit and brand recognition. 
- BUT he and his brothers did great things for psychology… so maybe that makes up for the evil he did in pharmaceutical advertising?
-The information on the origin of the Temple of Dendar (the Egyptian temple in the Met in NYC) is super interesting because I had no idea of the history of how it came to be there. I saw it every year in high school when we would go on art trips and it was always my favorite part of the museum visits. Now I feel the need to go back… unfortunately The Met is no longer free so I can’t just pop in quickly only to see the temple during our upcoming Christmas visit…
- Along the same lines, I have had the Sackler gallery of art in DC on my list of things I want to see for years but I haven’t been able to visit yet. Now it will mean so much more because I will know the history behind it whenever I get the chance to visit. 
- The situation with Arthur’s family and dividing up his assets after he died is like something straight out of a TV drama.  
- this chemical plant incident makes me think of Chernobyl. It’s awful what risks people will take to satisfy greed

I am really torn between giving this book 3 and 4 stars. So far I've changed my selection at least 3 times. I liked the book, but there were parts that really bothered me and drove me insane. But I think maybe that was the point- to feel angry at the fact that no one would believe what Patricia was saying she witnessed until basically it was too late and *SPOILER*

someone they actually knew and cared about got hurt and eventually died because of it. While it was not the organized vampire slaying that I imagined (they did not finally all work together until the very end... I was expecting them all to be much more united from the start.... and it was not your traditional vampire) it was still a very good story.

I actually think I like it more for it not being a traditional vampire. The fact that he was something unique but close enough to the vampire myth made her question it more and made killing him more interesting because they really did not know what would work. 

I am a bit nervous about the fact that they put the entire torso/arms/legs in a single location, even if they are separated by trash bags... They should have burned the body piece by piece and scattered the ashes in various locations. This is a sequel waiting to happen. Although maybe that is the point.

The husband's really pissed me off in this book. They felt much more 50's than 90's with their restrictive control of their wives. You will see just how much they pissed me off in my commentary from throughout the book below... I can completely understand the one and two star reviews that trash this book for its sexism. 

Also, a special shoutout to how the author made cleaning into a superpower, haha. While I doubt the cleaning will hold up to forensics analysis, I am impressed nonetheless.

COMMENTARY FROM WHILE READING:

- 57% it makes me SICK that no one will listen to Patricia. SHE SAW HIM MOLESTING THAT CHILD IN THE BACK OF HIS VAN. SHE SAW IT AND EVERYONE IS SAYING THAT SHE HAS NO EVIDENCE AGAINST THIS MAN. Yes, the other evidence with the van in storage and the license plate and the ton of cash and what not is circumstantial. BUT SHE SAW HIM! She literally saw him and no one will listen. Not her friends. Not her husband (who is a complete piece of shit along with every other husband in this book. Honestly, it makes me want to eliminate the entire male human species). Not the police (although from watching Dahmer on Netflix I’m learning how incompetent the police are in real life so I guess this isn’t a surprise). She isn’t even claiming that he is a vampire so they have no reason to think she is insane- regardless of whether he is a vampire or not, he truly is molesting and hurting these children. She is a normal house wife with no signs of former instability or craziness or attention seeking behavior who went out to help a friend when a child was missing and she saw something! They have no reason to not at least listen and look into what she is saying. The only reason she started doing her own little investigation is because no one would listen when she legit witnessed the molestation of a child in the woods. AND THE CHILD HAD A MARK RIGHT WHERE PATRICIA SAID HE WAS HURTING HER! MORONS. THESE PEOPLE ARE ALL MORONS. THIS IS WHY JEFFREY DAHMER WAS ABLE TO KILL FOR AS LONG AS HE DID BECAUSE EVERYONE JUST IGNORED THE OBVIOUS EVIDENCE WHEN IT WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM. It makes me want to chuck this book out the window and not finish it. 
- And I really must say more about about these husbands. They are treating their wives like school children. The wives are not allowed to talk to the police because their husbands say so? These “loving husbands” literally bring over the man that their wives are afraid of and force them to apologize to him?? What the fuck is this. The 1950s?! A forced apology is never a true fucking apology anyways. And now to force them to interact with this guy monthly? Divorce them all. 
- And for Mrs. Green to be angry at Patricia? Can’t she fucking see that Patricia is doing everything she can to help? That she is sacrificing everything? Her friends, her family, her credibility?
- And now this hospital scene…. I am pissed off that Patricia did that. How did she think that would help? But Carter should feel ashamed for turning the kids against their mother. I hope he regrets what he has done. I hope he gets eaten by a vampire. Or by rats- just like his mother. 
- What has he done?! HE MOLESTED THE CHILD! She saw it! Omg make it stop
- You need a partner? SHE NEEDS A PARTNER! Someone to believe her! 
- 60% “I’ve still never met someone worth giving up my freedom for” says a MAN in this book. What freedom are these guys sacrificing? I guess it a big responsibility to take on someone who is basically your fucking servant. Fuck these men. AND NOW HE IS CHEATING?! 
- 61% Carter expects Patricia to “teach Blue how to handle his emotions” after he purposefully turned the kids against their mother and told them not to listen to her because she was unstable? Wow. Wtf is wrong with this man. 
- Oh, I never did comment on how strange it is that everyone just took the whole rat incident as a normal freak occurrence. That isn’t normal. Even as a freak occurrence. Why did they not look into that more?!
- 83% I really really hate this situation

This was a quick, easy, enjoyable read (one of the more enjoyable Fear Streets that I have read so far if I am being honest)... BUT it is actually probably the most fucked up Fear Street book that I have read so far.

The main girl cheats on what is basically, I guess, an old-school version of the SATs by having someone else sit the exam for her for the low initially agreed-upon price of a single date.

First of all, that sort of skeeved me out...  when you think about it, in a none-PG-13-Fear-Street-World she would probably be trading not just a date but sexual favors as well. Obviously, that is not even implied/hinted at in this book because Fear Street books never go into those types of things, but really... what sort of high school boy would risk major consequences for sitting someone else's exam for only a single evening of dinner and dancing? 

The boy who sat the exam then continues to demand more and more- more dates and then eventually money. THEN the girl's boyfriend finds out that she is being blackmailed and KILLS the blackmailer for his girl. Sure, it was self-defense/an accident... but nothing really bad happens to either the boyfriend for killing a guy OR to the main girl for cheating in the first place. NOTHING! The book ends with them playing chess and them making a joke about cheating. The Fear Street books have always treated death/murder sort of casually, but this seemed like a bit much. 

Oh, and the "spooky/scary" part of the story was that this main girl had some pretty serious threats against her- a bloody heart from some animal in her gym bag and then being nearly run off the road and killed by another driver... she assumed it was the blackmailer losing his mind which is part of the reason she was so scared. Therefore, it was part of the reason that the blackmailer ended up dying. But he didn't do those things! It was a guy with a grudge against her father! So really, the blackmailer was an asshole and a jerk but he didn't do the truly evil things... which makes it even worse that he was so casually killed and no one really cared.

This was REALLY good. Probably the best Stephen King that I've read in a while. At first, I was sort of on Christine's side- everyone was treating her so badly. Arnie's mom was crazy for refusing to allow him to park his car in their driveway. He was such a good kid so why not let him have this little project? She doesn't have to understand his desire to do this, but what was the harm in letting him have this one thing?

And I do not see why everyone was so upset with LeBay for not seeing his car after his daughter died in it... Not everyone sells a house when someone dies in it... sure some do, but you would not blame someone for not selling the house. 

I do not even blame her for going after the kids who destroyed her. 

But thennnn Christine got crazy... It was done so well.

And I really loved the narrator of the audiobook- he did an excellent job slowly morphing Arnie's voice from normal Arnie to Lebay-Arnie.

Things are starting to really happen! I am so excited that

Prince Kai now knows that Cinder is the princess.

I absolutely love every single character in this series. It is sort of like the Percy Jackson series where there are almost too many main characters to love. Although I'm not sure how I feel about Princess Winter... She is the next main book's title character, so I guess I will get to know her in that. 

I look forward to seeing where this goes...

This is definitely a Kindle Unlimited smut book, but that does not mean I did not enjoy it! With that bar in mind, it was actually really good.  While certain aspects of the reimagining were a bit strange, overall I really enjoyed it. I look forward to reading more about the Darling and Lost Boys

I’m intrigued by and like the concept… but idk… maybe it is the art style.

I actually think that this was my favorite book of this series so far. I really enjoyed the competition for Ares. It made the book more unique. I was actually on the edge of my seat not wanting to put the book down to figure out who would become Ares in the end. Plus the relationship between Achilles, Patroclus, and Helen was 🌶🌶🌶 !!!


April 2023:
I’m currently reading Song of Achilles. I found myself thinking about this book, not even remembering that the characters in this book were in fact Achilles and Patroclus 😂 

The Song of Achilles has given me a greater appreciation for these two characters and their role in traditional mythology. I would like to reread Wicked Beauty with this new background knowledge. Perhaps I will read the Iliad (which I have not done yet) for even more background and then come back to this as my reward for making it through the classic version 😅

Alright... so my assumptions about this book prior to reading it were totally off. I was expecting Sabrina the teenage witch or Wizards of Waverly place vibes. I was expecting silly sisterhood vibes filled with magic. While this book did not fit those expectations, I still enjoyed it. I was actually pretty surprised by how little magic there truly was. 

And I just want to say that Sally is an idiot.

It worked out in the end but she is an idiot for feeling the need to confess to Gary.

POST-MOVIE:
I watched the movie within 30 minutes of finishing the book... Probably a mistake, because they changed basically everything for the movie. I think I would/could have really liked it if it was not sold as "Practical Magic". If it had just been something else, it would have been great. But that was NOT practical magic. It probably fits the vibes of what I was originally expecting more than the actual book did... but I actually wound up really liking the book for what it was, so I was disappointed that they did not follow it more.