maddness22's reviews
709 reviews

The Burning God by R.F. Kuang

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adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

God this was so incredibly devastating. Such a brutal way to write about war with so many twists and jaw-dropping moments. The writing here is incredible and the characters' dynamics are so well done despite everyone being cruel and morally gray in their own corrupted ways. What a formidable trilogy and incredible conclusion to such a dark, violent, and cruel narrative about war. I'm so glad nothing was sugar-coated but damn it hurt. 
The Love Prescription: 7 Days to More Intimacy, Connection, and Joy by John Gottman, Julie Schwartz Gottman

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informative lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

4.5

I was mostly interested in this because of how short and quick it was (only 4 hours as an audiobook) and was relatively impressed with the amount of useful information was packed into such a short read! I thought all of the tips and tricks were well articulated and made sense to me for growing romantic relationships. I'm actually excited to see that this series has other additions for stress and sleep because the way this information was delivered was so succinct and well done. 
The Au Pair Affair by Tessa Bailey

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I'm pretty convinced that if Tessa Bailey published in ~2010 rather than ~2020, all of her covers would be those airbrushed eight pack boys rather than cutesy cartoons. Anyways, this was enjoyable. I enjoyed the dynamic between the leads and they were definitely pretty spicy about their connection. I'm not typically a fan of the overprotective trope, but I actually enjoyed Burgess's take on it. I wish it had more of the actual au pair relationship with the daughter fleshed out but the snippets we saw were pretty cute. I absolutely zoned out and zoomed through that third act tho. Super unnecessary. 
100 Ways to Change Your Life: The Science of Leveling Up Health, Happiness, Relationships and Success by Liz Moody

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hopeful informative reflective relaxing fast-paced

4.0

This is pretty much an all in one self-help guide that manages to offer some solid practical advice in each nugget of an essay. I read this from cover to cover as a library loan, but I could see it being more beneficial as a bathroom reader or reference guide that can be easily picked up again. There's a ton of self-promo for her podcast, which is surprisingly fine because it's used pretty much in tandem with the research she performed for the book. All in all, not a bad self-help to pick up and leaf through if you're looking for an easy guide to improving bits of your life that isn't going to be too overwhelming or emotionally taxing. 

Also this took me entirely too long to read given how quick the essays are. I got busy over the weekend! 
The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose

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dark mysterious tense fast-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

2.0

There's not a single likeable character in this and the unlikeable characters aren't enjoyable to experience. Adam Morgan is the most incompetent idiot to find himself somehow married and Sarah Morgan is a "not like other girls" generic lawyer who literally uses slut shaming in her defense during trial. The plot is messy with a mystery mostly dependent on lies or incompetence as opposed to actual conflict. The representation of the law and law enforcement is laughable with too many plot holes and conveniences to count. I was rolling my eyes for the majority of the second half of the book. The one saving grace is that I truly enjoyed the ending. It's better than I could've imagined for this book and I wish the build-up to it could've been structured better so it would pay off just a tad better. 
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Wow this book helped me discover that I really don't like mysteries all that much. It's absolutely a love letter for the mystery genre and the fourth wall breaks are a fun deviance from the normal tropes found in mysteries, but the fourth wall breaks also makes the narrative tough to follow and mostly inspired me to roll my eyes more often than not. The voice is a clever way to hide the red herrings but I still get annoyed by mysteries that hide everything until the end with information that there's no way the reader could infer on their own. Fun if you're a mystery fan, but kinda blah and also gross if you're not. 
The Young Elites by Marie Lu

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Dang this was a fun, dark romp! I very much enjoyed myself. I think the story would've been improved if the characters were aged to their early 20's but I understand the trends of publishing at the time demanded sixteen year olds to endure trauma. Such a cool world and concept with superheroes/supervillains in fantasy/dark ages era! I'll definitely try to read the sequel because I loved the character of Adelina and the complex morality she is forced to navigate. The introduction of the additional characters and world-building in the epilogue also have me excited for the sequel.
Inciting Joy: Essays by Ross Gay

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 30%.
I enjoyed what I listened to so far, but I was really only capturing the book in nuggets. I don't think the audiobook format is the best way to capture the spirit of these essays so I might give it another go through a physical read if I can. 
How to Live a Good Life: A Guide to Choosing Your Personal Philosophy by Massimo Pigliucci, Skye Cleary, Daniel Kaufman

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informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

A decent collection of abstracts about various philosophies. I think this is a great introduction read for folks exploring philosophy for the first time and it offers some great little nuggets of wisdom on how to live a good life. It gets a bit dull at times and some essays are stronger than others, but I particularly loved Skye Cleary's essay about existentialism. 
The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson

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adventurous funny sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Honestly if I wasn't forced to binge this book for book club, I probably would've never finished it but it was still an incredibly solid read. The cast was a bit large and the pacing a bit slow for my personal tastes, but I very much enjoyed how expansive the whole world felt in this post-war 1919 British seaside village. The conversations about grief and post-war trauma were very well done and I also enjoyed the talks about women's rights and their place in the world during this time. Klaus and Harris were probably my favorite parts, but Poppy was a proper menace to society that I loved and appreciated (until the end).