honeyreads1066's reviews
337 reviews

This is the first short story collection I think I've ever read. 

With a short story collection, as with any collection, you obviously won't like every story. However, this one started and ended off SO WELL. While I wasn't keen on the majority of the stories and thought they were just okay, the first one "she carries the cosmos," one in the middle "The Stalker" and the final one "the great winter reef" was incredible. They were tense, weird, and scary in a different way than I expected. Especially as someone who reads a lot of thrillers but not horror. I will definitely look up those authors and aim to read other bits and other bits and pieces by them. 

I felt that the order was okay but the vibes of the stories were so different at times that it sort of gave me whiplash. Again I liked the way it ended and began but that's kind of it. I think that the writing styles were really distinct and each of the stories had its own flair in them which at times can be rare. I am also really impressed by the way that each writer was able to tell a complete story and I was satisfied with how each of them finished. 

Overall, I think there's something in there for everyone as there would be in any collection and I would certainly recommend it.

This book, to me, started so well but then stagnated. 

This book follows Elle, who, after a small money issue, decides to attend a trial on a private island where she has to take an experimental drug. It starts good and well, and then the headaches start, and bodies start to show up. 

I loved the beginning of this; the way the characters were laid out and the way that Elle's backstory was introduced. Honestly, I was eating it up. I also loved a lot of the other characters. I felt that there were too many to be able to form good opinions, but I liked Harrison and Hallie. I'm not even sure why, but I was so entertained by Harrison. 

I felt the plot stagnate a little once we got to the island, which is weird because you would have thought that's where it would have picked up. I also didn't particularly like the ending. I felt that it was a little too ambiguous and in the bits leading up to it I got a little confused and couldn't keep track of what happened to a lot of the characters. That may have just been me, though. 

Overall, I think I was expecting more from this book, but it was okay, I guess, but I don't think I would recommend it. 

I think I expected to like this book significantly more than I did because of how much I loved 'Dark Matter'. 

This book follows Logan, who notices his body going through changes after he comes face to face with a bomb designed to rewrite his DNA. He goes through a journey to figure out what is happening to him and finds himself trying to save the world in the process. 

I really did like the plot, I feel like there were a lot of philosophical questions and ideas that I'll probably be ruminating on for the next couple of days or maybe weeks. There were a lot of big ideas that felt very digestible which I liked. 

I also liked how fast-paced everything was. The story progressed really quickly and I felt like there was a lot going on all the time. It made it all not drag out. Although there were some time skips that seemed rather large and confused me a little. I sort of wish there was more detail in that time period. 

I think one of my main issues was Logan as a character. I felt that mainly because it was in the first person we should have fully been in his head and able to notice the drastic differences in his tone and the way he thinks as his body goes through but we didn't really get that. He felt very flat and generic at times and I felt like he didn't have his own voice. I also didn't like the science aspect of it. I love that Crouch tried to explain the science but I was still confused, that may have been just me but I was lost.

I read this book because of the hype, and while I didn't hate it, I felt a little disappointed with it. 

This book follows January, who is a writer struggling to write, so she moves to a small town after her father dies to clear out his home. She finds out her neighbour is an old "friend" from college, and after making a bet concerning their genre of book, they become increasingly attached. 

I did, for once, not hate January as a character. I didn't find her annoying or prefer Gus. I really liked them just the same. I feel like the side characters were a little more interesting, and honestly, I would read a book about Shadi or Pete and Maggie. I really did like Gus, though. I thought he'd be too much of a cliche for me, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but he didn't say things that I expected him to and I liked that. 

The thing I didn't like (and this seems so silly) was their names. Trying to root for people named Augustas who you call Gus, and a girl named January is hard. Honestly, there have definitely been worse names in fiction but it did pull me out of it because at times I couldn't help but laugh hearing January say the name, Gus. The saucy scenes were tame as I sort of expected but I wish they weren't and honestly, the books that they were writing didn't feel all that good which is actually funny in a way. 

Overall, this was cute and I didn't hate it but I don't exactly understand the hype and don't feel too strongly about it. I just don't think I would recommend it unless someone is craving that sort of sweet book. 

Honestly, I did not expect to like this book as much as I did. 

This book follows Simone, a member of a mysterious ultra-rich society obsessed with fashion. Trends come and go and there is always a hunt for a new trend. Simone accidentally does commit a fashion atrocity and while asking a friend to make sure there are no pictures, the friend instead steals the idea and becomes a fashion icon. This causes Simone's world to go into chaos and with every decision he makes and an abundance of secrets about the world he lives in gets revealed. 

This book was definitely a slow starter. I was really apprehensive about the way things were written and didn't think that it would be for me but once it started getting weirder I got immediately more interested. I loved the way that the fashion and places were described and found it really easy to visualise. The characters I didn't really root for but I don't think I was supposed to, so that's okay. I thought they were described well and it was clear what their motivations etc were.

I was not a fan of the ending though. I felt like it came out of nowhere and while I appreciate the message it attempted to send, I don't feel like it fit the story particularly well. I just wanted a little more of a buildup or an exploration of the elements leading to it. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this, every time I thought I knew where this was going to go, I was very wrong. Though a little weird and a slow start it definitely kept my interest until the very end. 

It's crucial to highlight that poetry is deeply personal, and without shared experiences or ways of thinking, it's unlikely that a person will relate to or take something from every poem in a collection.

This collection delves into a variety of topics, ranging from US imperialism to sexual violence. "Bioluminescent" and "Incantation" are two of my personal favourites. Tran's approach to these topics, particularly their phrasing and word choice, strikes me as extremely valuable.

My primary issue was that I didn't think the first two poems should have been at the start. They weren't the best, and I thought that beginning with something that really set the tone for the rest of the collection would have been better. While I'm assuming this is due to Tran's background, I also noticed that a lot of the wording was very scientific, which, although it works in some cases, made certain poems difficult to understand and alienated me as a reader.

Overall, the fact that there were a few poems that really spoke to me was what drew me to this collection. I think it's worth reading, but poetry is so personal that I can only hope that others value it as much as I do or that it resonates with them as much as it did with me.

This book HIT THE SPOT. 

It follows Father Tyler Bell, a catholic priest who joined the church after a shocking event that rocked the community. He then meets Poppy, a young woman who had recently moved into the area and ends up in his confession booth. Tyler becomes increasingly enamoured with Poppy and the feeling appears to be very much mutual. But how is one supposed to compete with God? 

I was really looking for something that had religious conflict, passion and guilt and honestly this hit every spot that I had. The characters themselves were brilliant, you really found yourself rooting for Tyler, and felt his conflict from the very beginning to the very end. Simone wrote his struggle very well and it was completely believable. 

Now the sex was brilliant. There were several times that I actually had to put this down to have a breather because OMG it was hot. There was just enough of it, it wasn't repetitive and I liked that it was from Tyler's perspective. You don't often read books like this from the perspective of a man. Basically, Simone was aware of what they could write well and they WROTE IT WELL. 

I think the only thing I didn't like was the little sections about Poppy. I felt we got a lot of her backstory through things she told Tyler and other events and it just didn't feel needed. Also, just a little appreciation for Millie because I love her. 

Clearly, I would recommend this if this is your type of thing. 

I feel like this collection is very hit and miss and unfortunately for me, this was a miss. 

The collection, I felt was more of an exploration into what poetry could be rather than poems with meaning. Poetry is very personal to the reader and writer except here I didn't feel that way.

When I read at the end that some of the poems were translated pieces of work that were made by putting the poem through google translate over and over and eventually coming back to English. While I admire what Barwin attempted to do I feel like here it just didn't work.

I love the potential of this but I'm not too keen on the execution.

I was not as much of a fan of this as I expected to be. 

Huynh uses poetry to talk about several different topics from grief and loss to healing and friendship. While poetry is a deeply personal thing, I think I just expected more from something that had such great reviews. Reviews of this talk about the gorgeous imagery which I did see but not to the degree I was expecting or wanted. The poems seemed a little cliche and I didn't personally feel connected to any of them. 

I did love the range of topics that Huynh touched on though. I thought that each poem brought an overview through emotions relating to each of the topics but aside from that, I didn't get too much from it. It just seemed like an oversight and I didn't get that deep and personal connection that I was craving. 

I personally liked the last section titled Elysium the most, I think that was just the section that resonated with me the most but it was also my favourite. I had high hopes for this but I think I'm unlikely to recommend this collection. 

Perhaps maybe my expectations were the reason I didn't like this as much as I was expecting too.

This collection of poems and personal essay centered around Bee's mental health issues.

Perhaps at the beginning I was expecting something deeply personal and devastating which I didn't get. While certainly this is a collection that has a lot of love and strength put into it, it didn't connect with me the way I expected.

My person favourite parts of the collection was "the night I burnt my suicide note" and "I am dying even though I'm alive." Perhaps this was because I related to these sections deeply and they reflected my own thoughts and feeling at times through my journey with mental illness.

With poetry and essays not everything resonates with everyone and I guess aside from those 2 nothing else did on a level that would have made me feel a type on kinship.

Though despite that, maybe from the perspective of someone who does not suffer from mental health issues this would make them feel different. As much as this is a personal and visceral piece if writing I can't help but feel that this was not meant for me. That doesn't mean that I would not recommend it though because I absolutely would.