lunabean's reviews
218 reviews

This was an incredible book…. I think possibly the best book I’ve read in a long long time. It allowed me peeks into Nigerian life - as I searched up the foods and clothing mentioned.. Every chapter of the book was significant, beautifully written, and Adunni’s optimism and hope was so inspiring. I feel for all the girls subject to oppression and born into a life without a voice, this book will bring light to all readers - hopefully encouraging all of us to do our part to dismantling systemic oppression of women and to help girls around the world get their education!

The book started off grabbing my attention and seemingly having great potential with the mysterious setting and the curiosity about Melanie’s genius. After the first 1/3 of the book though - it got really boring and the entire book didn’t seem to progress much in terms of plot. The story kind of fell flat.

I did appreciate the ingenuity of the ending and the scientific basis behind the parasite.

Incredible.

Amazing, thoughtful, and clever! The concept of polarity of personalities is so cleverly represented by the creation of the identical twins, the comparison between Desiree and Stella’s adult lives, and the dichotomy within Stella‘s self.

I enjoyed reading about Desiree and Stella’s adult lives and how despite Stella’s attained “freedom” and Desiree being forced home to Mallard, that Desiree was the one who kept her spirit free. She built a life the best she could with what she was given - ended up having a great relationship with her daughter, Early, her mum, and managing Lou’s Cafe. Stella in contrast, with all her material riches after her decision to be “free” by passing as white, ended up not “free” at all. She was lonely, had no friends, and nobody knew who she really was.

It was also interesting to see the next generation’s lives differ so greatly from what was expected of them - Kennedy feeling lost and alone despite having had everything provided for her when she was a child, and Jude managing to achieve her dreams and find love in Reese despite the struggles she faced because of her skin colour.

One tiny downside was the use of pronouns instead of names at the start of some paragraphs so I didn’t know sometimes who the writer was referring to. And the strange time travelling to the future in the middle of sentences (one sentence saying “she noticed every thing about him since they’ve broken up” and then moving back to the present where they’re still together in the next.)

Overall, this book was very well-written, well-thought through, with every emotion felt by each character so wonderfully articulated. Hard emotions were made tangible with words and conveyed the horrible consequences of racism in different, distinct manners. Everyone needs to read this book!

A very enjoyable read overall. I’ve always liked reading Foley’s books because of how easy they are to read. A page-turner, prose written so fluently I can always follow paragraph after paragraph as if I’m there and the images are flowing freely.

It was a tiny bit confusing in the beginning with a whole bunch of characters and all their names. Although I got the hang of it as I went on, I think some characters were pretty unnecessary - Nick and Bo, Samira and Giles, Priya… I also think naming of background characters wasn’t necessary - Alec, Jamie - they could have just been referred to by their connection to the main characters.

The ending also felt a little forced, giving Emma up as the reason for every strange thing that has happened to Miranda. Emma’s reaction to Miranda’s words at the bridge also felt exaggerated, seeing how it wasn’t the first time Miranda had been cruel to her. Why react now?

I did enjoy making guesses at who could’ve been the murderer, I think Foley did a good job creating the characters to have motives to kill. If you’re looking for a fun, thrilling, murder mystery, this is the book. And I have to say again, I don’t know how Foley does it but her words are so easy to read! (A good thing!!!)

Nina returns in this book to work a serial killer case with the new special ops team. The book starts off promising and sets an exciting premise with a mysterious killer and an eerie murder.

However, the book took a downturn when things became too unrealistic. Nina’s personal attachment to the case felt very forced. Additionally, I thought the intended climax was disappointing. Similar to Maldonado’s previous book The Cipher, there was virtually no catharsis for the persecution of the villain. At the most exciting moment, a clean bullet shot occurs and the villain’s story ends. I would have liked to see him apprehended and have him interact with the team after.

The prose used sometimes felt cheesy, detached, and explanatory, justifying characters’ feelings like stating facts. It made Nina pretty unlikeable and difficult to empathise with, contradictory to what the author had clearly intended. Granted, I did feel like shedding a tear at the last page with the touching emphasis on the word ‘mija’.

I just… didn’t really like it that much. I hated every single character including the protagonist, the story kind of droned on and on, and the ending was predictable.

When Libby was 7, her whole family was murdered and her brother Ben was convicted of the murders. With the encouragement of a group of crime fanatics, she starts on a journey to find the truth, after 25 years. Libby is one-dimensional, boring, understandably hollow and depressed. The chapters alternate between current day Libby’s perspective, 1985 Ben’s perspective, and 1985 Mom perspective. 1985 Ben was very unnerving. The theme of a Satanic murder was missing throughout the book, only depicted through cattle sacrifices seemingly unnecessary, utilised for gore.

Loose ends were all tied up, but it was still a long read. What kept me going was my small fondness for Mom (Patty).