maddness22's reviews
709 reviews

Pumpkin Spice Peril by Jenn McKinlay

Go to review page

lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

As expected, this was a quick and delightful cozy little mystery. There actually wasn't that much fall theming to this as I expected. But even though I fell into this series 12 books deep, I loved the entire cast and the love they had for each other. The mystery was actually a bit compelling too with plenty of suspects to keep me roped in on the "whodunit" aspect. With how cozy the environment is and the love between the large cast of characters, I'm absolutely going to read the rest of this series as a comfort read slowly but surely as they become available at the library in between my other reads. 

I'm also very inspired for my baking era now. I even put the book down a couple times to check out some recipes for things. 
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring slow-paced

5.0

Life changing. This book was recommended to me several times, but my months long library hold (by some luck) came through right as I was recovering from a bout of mysterious malaise during a somewhat stressful period of my life. It was so fascinating to me reading about how stress hormones impact the body in physical ways and how the common methods for alleviating cortisol relieve that stress and pressure. I felt validated in my malaise that doctors couldn't fully diagnose and empowered that recovery was possible. I'm also stuck seeing how stress and/or anxiety is defining the people around me's actions and behaviors based on the findings through this book. It gets incredibly heavy at times, but I think it's worth it for the insight it provides. 
Languishing: How to Feel Alive Again in a World That Wears Us Down by Corey Keyes

Go to review page

hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.25

Not a bad reframing of common mental health issues. I think it does an excellent job validating the reasons for languishing and offering practical solutions for addressing the downfalls in life that create poor mental health environments. I especially enjoyed the concept that mental health can't be truly healed and it's actually more detrimental to someone's mental health to believe that it can be fully cured because then they feel like a failure for not being able to be "cured" despite trying their best. It's just a matter of managing symptoms and looking for and building for the moments of flourishing in every day life. 

I will also say this book was difficult to listen to as an audiobook. The chapters are incredibly long and presented more as trains of thoughts, which is useful but it makes it hard to pick up and put down the audio version of the book since there are no clear breaks in the narrative. 
Not the Witch You Wed by April Asher

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Alright this was pretty fun. I enjoyed the relationship between the leads and world setting. I found the world building to be incredibly interesting. The author placed a lot of faith in the reader by just casually introducing this supernatural world without much explanation and adding new elements as late as the third act, but it honestly really works for this type of book and kind of added to the fun for me. It's a magical read with lots of fun elements and scenes. I wouldn't mind reading a sequel but I'm probably going to take my time returning to this world. 
The Likeness by Tana French

Go to review page

Did not finish book. Stopped at 22%.
No matter how hard I try, I just don't like crime/mystery novels. 
The Need to Be Whole: Patriotism and the History of Prejudice by Wendell Berry

Go to review page

Did not finish book. Stopped at 9%.
I will come back to this book but I literally just got hit with three Libby holds I've had on hold for literally months and a new book club book so I gotta pause this one 😅
Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Man this was an incredibly cool and unique horror novel with some really clever writing to critique the current Hollywood media. The beginning is a bit slow and there's plenty of pretentious male writer energy, but gosh it wraps up so cool by the end of it. Once the villain was revealed, I was on the edge of my seat and couldn't wait to figure out how the book would end. Very clever and very fun! Also legitimately spooky and scary at times. 
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Go to review page

Did not finish book. Stopped at 40%.
Life is too short to read a book for the sake of reading without enjoying it. This is just a lot of smart people talking at each other about fake science and academics which can be fun, but not to this slow slog of an extent. Reminds me of Three Body Problem, but with witches and vampires. Not for me, thanks. 
The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

Perfectly acceptable read for the spooky season, but the romance was more lust than love. I didn't feel a lot of chemistry between the leads aside from "he's hot/she's hot" and the pacing suffered as a result. The little mishaps and rom-com moments were fun, but I felt like we were sprinting through plot points just to get to the flirting even though the characters didn't really vibe together. 

A very cute and fun setting tho with adorable side characters (love those chaos Baby Witches and Sir Purrceival) and a great easy read for the spooky season. I recommend reading the first book though because even though this could technically be a standalone, they reference the previous book so much that I got FOMO and felt like I missed crucial parts of the world building for the magic system.
It's in His Kiss by Julia Quinn

Go to review page

funny lighthearted relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

*Frodo gif* It is done. 

Gosh this was just SO BORING. We're told Hycanieth is this darling sassy little thing but she really doesn't stand out much and neither does her daddy issues galore beau Gareth, who is also sold to us as a rake but he literally only hangs out with his grandma and girlfriend the entire time. There's just not a lot of chemistry and the mystery of the missing diamonds was a messy and poorly paced distraction from that lack of chemistry. Lady Danbury was a delight though. She remains my favorite recurring character in this series. 

We also see next to none of the larger Bridgerton family and their interactions, which makes sense given Hycanieth's age from the rest of them but the larger appeal of this series is seeing those repeated interactions and sibling dynamics. 

I'm definitely reading the last book, but I'm not too terribly excited after this one to do so.