jrayereads's reviews
404 reviews

 

Rating: 5 stars

Format: Audiobook

Genre: Nonfiction, politics, memoir

I now understand why this book has gotten such glowing reviews and why, post 2024 U.S. election results, it is being recommended so widely as essential reading. The construction of this “mirror world” where human beings are segmented into parts, reduced to brands, and exposed to systems and technology that are designed for exploitation and dehumanization was brilliantly conveyed. Klein covers a lot of topics here, but she does so deftly and with much-needed compassion. Klein speaks to several of the fears that many of us have on key social issues - social media, the emergency of AI, COVID-19 denialism and anti-vax sentiment, climate change, medical exploitation, conspiracy and misinformation. 

The use of the recurring theme of a doppelganger to discuss duplicity, self-partitioning, and disembodiment worked well and I appreciate the connections she drew between topics. This book gives you so much to think about and sheds light onto ways of viewing the world that confound so many of us that consider ourselves reasonable. An absolute must-read.

 

 Rating: 4.5 stars

Format: E-book (ARC, pub date 3/4/2025)

Genre: Literary horror, dystopian

WOW what a stunning and unexpected ride that was. 

This book feels very different from Tender is the Flesh, which for me was a really good thing. I liked her debut, but I felt like it lacked the subtlety that The Unworthy embodies so well. There are still disturbing elements and there is definitely upsetting imagery, but much less gore and gross-out sections than Bazterrica’s first book. Despite our characters living in the aftermath of the destruction of the entire world as we know it, The Unworthy feels much smaller in scope and tells you very little about the machinations of its world. I appreciated this about the story. I think for some stories that rely on keeping the reader in the dark, it's difficult to walk the line between trusting your reader to pick up on small details and draw their own conclusions versus revealing too much and risking beating your audience over their heads with The Point. This is definitely not a book that spells everything out for you, but that felt like a strength rather than a source of frustration for me. 

Bazterrica’s writing (and Moses’ translation) is phenomenal. She is so skilled at constructing an oppressive, suffocating atmosphere, both in her prose and what she does and does not choose to reveal about the main character and the world. We don’t learn much about this mysterious convent and their doctrine, but what we do learn about the different roles and the day-to-day of living there adds to the dread and desperation present throughout the book. Though the diaristic confessions of our unnamed protagonist felt slow at moments because it was occasionally unclear to me where things were going, I still thought it was very well paced and well structured. I’m a very character driven reader and I found the protagonist compelling and believable, even though for the first half of the book we know every little about her.

What keeps this book from being 5 stars, for me, is the ending. It felt a bit rushed after an entire book that had such excellent tension. I get why the ending had to be the way it was, but I still wanted more from the climax of the story. Even despite this, I was hooked the entire time.

I don’t think this book will work for everyone, but it completely gripped me and did not let me go. It’s one of those books that buries under your skin and stays there. I think I’ll be ruminating on this one for a while. 

 

Rating: 4 stars

Format: E-Book/Audiobook

Genre: Historical fiction, fantasy, sapphic romance

Alexa, play Triple Dog Dare by Lucy Dacus…

In a lot of ways this book reminded me of The Frozen River, which I adored. The wintry atmosphere, the drama and gossip of a small, close-knit town, the headstrong and capable midwife who gets into trouble by advocating for the women she helps. 

I loved Jean’s characterization and the relationships she built with the other characters. There was mystery and tension as Jean, alongside the audience, learns more and more about Muirin and her story. I loved how language was used as a narrative tool that both highlighted Muirin’s oppression by Tobias but also signified her opening up and becoming closer with Jean as she learned more English. Also the sapphic yearning??????? *Chefs kiss*

I do wish some of the fantasy elements had been woven in throughout the story instead of just being dumped on you at the end, but I still enjoyed the reveals and explanations that were given. The pacing is pretty slow but I didn’t mind it at all. The atmospheric prose and tension were enough to keep me interested. 

 

Based on what I’ve heard about this series I was expecting it to be much more brutal or problematic. Don’t get me wrong, this book has heavy themes and you should definitely proceed with caution if sexual violence, rape, slavery, pedophilia, or incest are triggering topics for you. There are very explicit, on page depictions of those things. It felt pretty obvious to me that the narrative was condemning these things, and there were even on page discussions of the morality of the characters and their actions. This is simply a world where slavery exists and each of the characters interacts with that system in a different way. But I get it if the disturbing content was too much for some people, because there are times where it was uncomfortable to read.

I wouldn’t consider this book a romance. Even if a romantic relationship develops between Damen and Laurent, the focus seems to be the worldbuilding and the political intrigue. I would squarely put this in the political fantasy category. You definitely shouldn’t expect any romance in this first installment. 

I thought the writing was just okay. It definitely felt like a fanfiction at times due to some of the more trope-y elements. My main issue was the pacing and the character development. The beginning dragged quite a bit and things didn’t pick up until maybe 50 or 60 percent of the way through when the political scheming became the main focus - which I enjoyed. The characterization is pretty shallow, but I have heard that the second and third books are better so I’m assuming that it improves over time. 

Overall this was just fine. I read it out of curiosity due to the discourse around the content of the book and thought it was okay. I’ll probably continue the series because they’re so short and because I’m curious to see how things develop. 

I really loved the first 50% of this book and thought it was an excellent continuation of the first, but while the ending wrapped up the political intrigue and action, I felt like there was a lot left unresolved with the characters and their relationships. So much of what I loved about the first book was how slowly things developed between Lara and the rest of the main cast. In this book we get introduced to Lara’s sisters (WHO I LOVED) and there is A LOT to be done as far as Lara redeeming herself to those she has betrayed. One of the main conflicts of this book is Aren’s journey to reconcile his feelings for Lara and how his people will respond to him forgiving a traitor. That is a really interesting conflict and I wanted to see some more long-lasting resolution with that. Honestly I think we just needed a couple chapters set a few months or a year after the action was resolved to get a more satisfying conclusion to both Lara’s sisters, Lara and Aren’s relationship, and also Lara’s relationship to the people from both of the kingdoms she loves.

I did really like the majority of this book and I loved these characters, I just think the focus on resolving all of the different bigger moving parts of the war and the different kingdoms overshadowed the character work that needed to be done to make everything more impactful. 

 Rating: 3 Stars

Format: Audiobook

Genre: Mystery, Romance, Christmas/Holiday

This was just okay, it served as a pretty entertaining read to listen to throughout my boring workday, which is what I was looking for. It’s a mystery romance but focuses a lot more on the romance. The mystery was mostly just a plot device to drive the main couple together and force them to reconcile from their “rival” status. I enjoyed the main couple a lot and some of the dialogue was genuinely funny. I found their relationship semi-believable but I think a bit more time to develop their relationship over the years would’ve helped make such a sudden turn in how they feel about each other feel more satisfying. 

I think the mystery felt underdeveloped not because there weren’t fun twists and engaging moments that kept me guessing, but mostly because I didn’t feel connected to any of the other characters/potential suspects. The reveal left me feeling like “oh okay I guess that's the explanation” because we didn’t spend enough time getting a sense for the other characters and their potential motivations for that suspense to build. I’m not a very seasoned mystery reader so maybe it was a me issue, but I didn’t get that satisfying feeling of trying to piece together the clues based on what information was slowly given to us. 

I think other people will vibe with this more than I did, so if the premise sounds interesting I think it’s worth trying. Also, I highly recommend the audiobook! The performances for the two main characters were excellent and made the whole reading experience very enjoyable.

 

A fascinating topic bogged down by repetitive writing and basic historical inaccuracies (which an excellent review from ArtNews goes into). The author has supposedly flubbed information before which is an unfortunate trait for a journalist to have. Knowing this made me a bit skeptical about how information was presented. 

I appreciated the time spent discussing other art thieves and how stealing art is often just a means to an end and contrasting those instances with Breitwieser’s supposedly genuine love of art. This had the potential for an interesting analysis if this section had been longer and more developed. There were brief mentions to book thieves at the very end of the book. It would have been nice to have gotten more information on that, especially since the author says that they are kindred spirits of Breitwieser’s in their motivation for stealing. It was a quick, mildly entertaining read, but I don’t think it does enough to make the initial concept feel fully fleshed out. 

 

Not me crying at my desk at work while finishing this audiobook????

I genuinely do not know what else you could want from a queer Christmas rom-com. This was funny, heartfelt, and a bit spicy, too. I’m usually looking for a certain level of cheesiness in my romance books as well, and this had the perfect amount.

This book had a wacky premise and even though things were rom-com levels of silly, the conflict still felt grounded and I was genuinely rooting for Ellie and Jack as a couple. The characters are reasonable and they act like ADULTS. It’s so satisfying to read a rom-com where the actions and motivations of the characters are so clear and make sense, even when the situation they’re in is so typical of a romance book. I adored Ellie as a protagonist. As a fellow anxious 25-year-old who has also been fired from multiple jobs, I found her extremely relatable and well-written. I also loved the demisexual and trans/non-binary rep in addition to having bisexual and lesbian main characters. 

Also, I know some people think it is cringe when romance books mention Taylor Swift, but I’m a parasocial sucker with a hyperfixation on the billionaire barbie so I loved it. Especially when it’s sapphics talking about the lyricism of evermore (typical).

ANYWAYS, this was beautiful and I’m already feeling the post-book hangover because it was so good. 

 SHUT UPPPPP. This was JUICY. If all romantasy was like this, I would be the biggest romantasy girl of all time. I completely adored this book and read the majority of it in one sitting.

This had the perfect balance of fantasy elements to romance elements for my tastes. The kingdom rivalries, scheming and plotting, action, and political intrigue were so engrossing. There was a TRUE slow burn romance between Lara and Aren and we actually get to see their relationship progress in a way that makes sense and had me rooting for them. And speaking of our main POVs, I just loved them so much. They both had such strong and clear motivations and I was so invested to see how things would play out, not just in their relationship, but also in how they would interact with the world around them. There were some pretty engaging twists and turns and even though I saw some of them coming, it was still really entertaining to see them play out. I wouldn’t say this is the most unique premise or overall story, but the execution was excellent so I didn’t mind the trope-y elements and plot points. 

Solid writing, solid pacing, and solid characterization. It really hit all the marks for me and I will absolutely be starting the second one ASAP.