katiemack's reviews
1288 reviews

Nasty little piece of work.

What a delight! I had a blast with this Princess Bride-inspired fantasy-adventure story; Tress is my new favorite character in the Sandersonverse. I'd encountered Hoid (very) briefly in The Final Empire, but using his cursed self as a narrative device made me want to learn more about him. Also, I highly recommend the audiobook; Michael Kramer's performance validates his many awards and four decades of audiobook narration experience. 

I’ve officially bought into the Brandon Sanderson hype—this feels accessible without being flippant and still manages to be a strong, descriptive, gripping novel. 

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is really cute! It speaks to interests that mean a lot to both Teen Me and Adult Me--the transformative and inspirational power of RPGs and community/school theater--and the fake-dating-turn-real-dating (not a spoiler, really, as the outcome is obvious) between Riley and Nathan is both fun and sweet as their relationship develops. I actually wanted more details about the side characters, as I found them charming and unique. 

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is a quick and quirky read with a surprising amount of sweetness (despite Shoji Morimoto's insistence that he is not a "good person"). I enjoyed Morimoto's musings--though it felt very much like a book about nothing a la Seinfeld--and found myself reflecting on the often transactional nature of relationships. 

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is my favorite Brubaker-Phillips work so far; the narrative is coherent yet innovatively engaging with its flashbacks and multi-character POV. The art feels classic and lends itself to the mystery of the story (namely, who killed the detective and moved his body?), and I appreciate that it's a sort of crime novel that accidentally turns into a romance. 

 I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This final book in the League of Extraordinary Women series is my second-favorite (after Bringing Down the Duke), probably because I identified strongly with Catriona and her witty banter with Elias in a relationship based on both trust and shared interest and intelligence. Because this is the last book, it features vignettes of the other women in the League; I was glad to see that the 1918 epilogue provides a solid sense of closure for these friends (though I can't say the same about Catriona and Elias' relationship--I was profoundly disappointed to not get more details about them in the intervening years). 

I’m giving this an extra star because Cassandra Campbell is a magnificent reader—the scope of this novel is incredibly large, and she really disappears into the characters. 

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The backstory is clunky, but middle-grade readers will enjoy Olive's fast-paced, madcap adventures with RASCH and the Misfits (including the message about finding your group of people with whom to go through life). I look forward to getting my hands on a published copy so I can look at the finished art (was still in draft mode when I got this eARC). 

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a delight to read; it's structured like a Bollywood movie, complete with cultural references and song allusions (plus the end credits scene was fun to imagine). Arya's enemies-to-lovers romance with Dean develops organically with just a hint of Bollywood drama to make their chemistry pop; readers will love seeing their relationship develop. I do wish some of the fractal family issues had been addressed more, but that would have made it a much longer book.