laurreads's reviews
186 reviews

i loved this book! there were some parts that i thought were a little unnecessary, but i honestly loved the love story. i don’t think i know anyone else who has read this, and i’m glad that i did! heather mclarry mentioned and summarized it in a video, and it sold me on finally reading it. mystery pen pals, loneliness, undertaking, and a really wonderful approach to grief and death? hell yeah. it’s a very unique world !

4.5-5 !!!
i devoured this book!!! i started at about 11 PM 2/13 and was done by 3 AM 2/14. i am usually very precious about my sleep, but ali had me ENTHRALLED. i was giggling, kicking my feet, like fully eating this up. the mmc……….. i loved. this one is truly for the fanfic girlies !!

the premise was interesting, but the plot was predictable and the “twists” were not surprising. i liked three of the characters, but two of them were not introduced until the last quarter of the book. i found madeline frustrating, rude, and annoying. there was no character growth for madeline, and i predicted the whole plot, almost to a T, from the first few chapters. i honestly think this is a 2.5 rounded up. i’m generally really lenient and casual with rating (typically going with 4 stars), but this one did not have me hooked or enthralled. it took me much longer to read this than it should have because i struggled to connect to it, despite understanding and relating to so many of the characters.

check trigger warnings before reading this book! not too many & not too detailed, but serious!

i attempted to read this book a few times. each time i got a little stuck in the very beginning. i suppose the book was sort of just waiting for the right time to be read, just like it took t. kingfisher many years to finally write it. it finally decided and forced itself upon me this month, and i’m glad it did. t. kingfisher is one of my favorite authors, and nettle & bone is a perfect look into why i love her. marra (in her 30s!!) is stubborn and brave, somehow patient AND impatient, and filled with fierce compassion for and dedication to those she loves. i loved marra, despite it taking her quite some time to get the point (for more issues than one). the dust-wife and agnes are wonderful, and i want them to date, even if that wasn’t kingfisher’s intention. fenris is strong, kind, and loyal, and his ability to be vulnerable was heartwarming/breaking. the animals in this book are incredibly written as well, and they get as much attention as the humans. in her author’s note, kingfisher wrote that the line that inspired this book “showed up in [her] head and started hammering away like a tuneless earworm,” and i have to say, i’m grateful she took the time to give it a tune. it will now rattle around in my brain forever, and i’m happy to have read it. i recommend this completely and enthusiastically, and i think my heart is better for reading it.

TW: Please visit this link for in-depth trigger warnings. This book has a lot, and it isn't feasible to cover them all in a review. https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/924488?index1=-1&index2=-1

This book was difficult. I give four stars because it feels wrong to give 5 (do you give 5 stars when someone who had to suffer like this? is that commodify-able?), but it also feels wrong to give less (she went through so much and wrote so beautifully about it). Jennette McCurdy went through things that no one should ever have to go through, and I'm glad that she wrote about her life. I don't know her, but I am proud of her. Jennette writes about a lot of things, but I can specifically speak to how well she wrote about eating disorders. I didn't know she was going to write about that (I mainly wanted to read it because I respect her as a person), and she wrote about it in ways that I haven't heard another person say out loud. I switched back and forth between the audiobook and the physical book and hearing Jennette McCurdy talk about her own eating disorders, experiences with grief and shame, her mental health, and so much more was powerful. I have a lot of thoughts that would "spoil" the book, and quite frankly, a lot of my thoughts are personal and relate to my own life. I think that this book is a great read and it will be worth your time, but reading this is not worth sacrificing your own mental health. I loved iCarly when I was young, and I hate that my love for Jennette McCurdy came out of something that (among a lot of other things) was ultimately so harmful to her.

If you are in your recovery journey (with grief, attachment issues, EDs, abuse, sexual assault, etc.), be sure that you can handle listening to or reading detailed accounts of these issues. There were times that I thought I would not be able to finish the book because I am on my own journey, but I managed to get through it. However, I know I have therapy soon so I can process my feelings through journaling and therapy. You may need to engage in self-care activities while reading this book, and I don't want that to shock anyone.

My only note is that you may need to slow the audiobook down. I got to a point where I was listening to it on 1.10x speed, but I listened to the majority of it on 0.90x because she's a quick talker!

I found this book by chance, I think on Kindle Unlimited. It was a quick read! I think it took me about 4 hours, and it was just a fun time! There are a lot of classic fantasy tropes in this book, but they didn't detract from the story itself. If you're looking for a quick, fun fantasy read that involves dragons, an arranged marriage, adversaries-to-lovers, very light spice (think just more than fade to black), and elemental magic, I recommend this book! This book is the perfect example of what I mean when I say I want to have a good time. It wasn't particularly thought-provoking or challenging, and it has a happy ending. The characters were fine (totally enjoyable), the plot was easy to follow (with a very small, fun twist), and the spice was good (and minimal). I am likely going to check out other books by these authors! This is a great wind-down-for-bed book, and I look forward to reading more!

I took a few days (and another book) between finishing the book and posting this review. I loved this book. I heard the title once and immediately decided I would read it. It took me a while to get around to it, but I'm so glad I did. I went into I Who Have Never Known Men knowing nothing about it, simply liking the title. Honestly, I recommend going into it like that. The less you know, the better!

Overall, I loved this, and I love how Harpman writes. I'm on a dystopian-fiction-by-women kick right now, having read both The Handmaid's Tale and Tender Is the Flesh recently. Women write dystopias so unlike white men because in the US, women, especially women of color, are already living in a sort of dystopia. As politicians continue to wreak havoc on women's bodies and lives, dystopian fiction feels increasingly poignant. I cannot believe I Who Have Never Known Men was written in 1995 and it isn't more popular. Yes, it has nearly 45k reviews here on Goodreads, but that is almost nothing compared to similar titles (The Handmaid's Tale has over 2 million). If you are thinking of reading this "soon," I implore you: read it now.

The ending was a little slow, but I don't think it was slow enough for me to revoke any stars. There is an ambiguity in this book that I really appreciated. We were meant to be reading from someone's POV who also didn't understand what was going on. Ultimately, I think it was necessary for the book to have that air of obscurity because it would not have been as powerful without it. However, I would happily read a whole series to figure out what was going on in this book.

Tangentially, it is also important to note that this book was translated into English from French. This was translated in 1997 by a woman named Ros Schwartz, but there are two different translated titles: this, and The Mistress of Silence. I cannot figure out what happened with The Mistress of Silence or really what was going on there, but I find that alternative title interesting. I honestly think that it changes the overall vibe of the ambiguity, and it also makes me think of a huge plot point differently...

I recommend this book whole heartedly. It is different, interesting, compelling, thought-provoking, and all-consuming. It will take your attention immediately, so I recommend reading when you have time to just tear through it. :)

A thing that you need to know about me is that I will read anything, for the most part. I will read it, either so you don’t have to, or so I can give you the courage to. In this case, I have to say: if you were considering reading it or even remotely intrigued, give it a try!

This book has a totally unique and interesting premise. However, it is explicit! If you haven’t read a monster/paranormal/fantasy romance before, I recommend starting with something a little easier/less intimidating. Say, a spicy Beauty & the Beast retelling or something along those lines.

I actually liked the two main characters, and I wasn’t cringing the entire time I read it. There is actually a plot, and the book itself is pretty short! It took me about 3 hours to read digitally. Overall, this has more plot that other monster romances I’ve read.

NovelNiah on IG convinced me to give this a try, and I actually found it enjoyable. Plus, the ratings don’t lie! Just don’t go into it expecting regular circumstances. Honestly, my biggest takeaway is that I’m so bummed that I’ll never try the honeycomb latte.