designsbymeghen's reviews
230 reviews

It’s not too shabby for a quick selection from my StoryGraph recommendations. I always love a good character build as another reminder that not everything is as it seems on the surface. It is quite a sinister revenge scheme, executed by a heartbroken woman (women in male-dominated fields). I don’t know how seemingly vicious the children presented in this story were. Low-key makes me extra terrified of middle schoolers. 

Talk about a depressing tale. I was angry about 90% of the time reading this book. What’s the lesson here? That deceit and selfishness will win out no matter who is in charge because power corrupts all good intentions. Not to mention how quickly past promises are forgotten if you listen to someone cunning enough. It was honestly exhausting reading about the animals toiling day in and day out. It seems to me it’s very prevalent in our world today. How do we take this story’s example and prevent things from progressing even further? Is it even possible? 

Gillian Anderson is one of the few celebrities I follow on social media, so of course, I wanted to read her book. There is such a wide variety of fantasies: over-the-top freely, kinky, porn-level fantasies to soft, desperate yearnings to be held, and everything in between. It makes me appreciate how different and unique women can be. And at the same time, so many underlying themes were to feel wanted and desired. Many submissions from women in loveless or stale marriages made me feel less alone. 

I was trying to finish my reading goal for the years d asked my followers for recommendations. This was one of them. I don’t typically enjoy war novels so it was already an uphill battle for me. 🥁the writing was dry, and overly cheesy characters. I tried to power through, but it just wasn’t worth it for me. 

I called this one from the beginning. It was an okay read, but it felt repetitive. I didn’t like any of the characters, so I wasn’t really rooting for anyone. The twist felt a little forced since we spent so much time worrying about these other characters that the "big reveal" at the end was rushed and put together clumsily. 

This was an okay read. It didn’t grab my attention, but I liked the cover art! The casualness of men willingly and eagerly having sex with young girls makes me sick. I wish Evie’s present-day life were more redemptive/positive, but honestly, it was pretty bleak. Add on her encounter with another young girl being shaped/manipulated by yet another man, and it’s just depressing. 

It didn't really grab my attention like I was hoping it would. 

I didn’t love the voice actors, but Feeney writes some delicious twisty-turny stories that keep you on your toes. Remind me not to send my future daughters to an all-girls school 😅 I suppose it just goes to show that women can be just as horrible as men.

I don’t think I could take my ex back after he was screwing the woman who groomed me and sold me to a rapist. Wtfffffff

 

Leave it to Picoult to put together an immaculately researched novel. Learning that Shakespeare might not be the renowned playwright we’ve been taught was incredibly interesting. Placing the story’s focus on Emilia Bassano and her modern-day descendant highlights that while some progress has happened since Emilia’s time, we still have a long way to go in telling more diverse stories more often. Plus, reading about two strong female characters vs. a man is much more interesting to me. Shakespeare’s name is a punchline, but we’ve forgotten that the joke shows that history, as it is presented, should always be taken with a grain of salt. 

Frankel writes some of my favorite types of book characters. They’re smart, witty, independent, and wholly themselves. This book raises so many interesting ways of looking at what creating a family can be. It also challenges readers to rethink adaptation as a “last resort” effort to make a family.