sicksadlit's reviews
496 reviews

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

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

4.0

Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio

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

2.0

My god this woman goes 7 years without publishing anything only for it to be a novella and STILL BAD WRITING!! 

I was one of the rare few who hated IWWV. I thought it was plotless, flat and boring and I did not understand the hype. However, to be fair to M.L. Rio and her fawning fan club, I decided to give Graveyard Shift a go in case my thoughts on IWWV were a one off.

They weren't.

This woman cannot build tension or pull off a satisfying resolution to save herself, I SWEAR. This barely qualifies as a novella and I read one review which said it felt more like a rough outline for a full length novel, which I completely agree with. 

Oddly, each chapter was from a different character's POV but the story wasn't long enough to justify five different character POVs as they don't have the chance to establish themselves or make us care.

I truly can't tell you anything about them other than that they all chain smoke and have insomnia?? And maybe two of them are queer?

Nothing of interest happened in this story. It started out with promise before quickly fizzling out into nothing. M.L. Rio is definitely good at building atmosphere, but that is truly where her writing skills start and finish. 

I can't believe her editors didn't push her to better develop this story. After all - she had seven years to do it!

I don't believe M.L. Rio is at all deserving of the hype and praise she receives and after reading both of her very boring and anti-climactic books I can safely say I am 1000% done with anything she has to write or say.

Thank you to Hachette NZ for the gifted copy. Sorry to be so neggy about it but it is what it is.
The Coworker by Freida McFadden

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

3.75

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.0

She followed the moon back to herself by Amanda Lovelace

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1.0

I used to love Amanda Lovelace. In 2017 when I was going through some incredibly tough times, Amanda's poetry brought me solace and made me feel less alone. I read volume after volume, always preferring it over the more "mainstream" Rupi Kaur. So when I saw Amanda Lovelace had a new collection coming out and it was available to request on Netgalley, I was thrilled.

I hadn't read any of Amanda's work for a few years and I was hoping to experience more of the same fondness and comfort in her words. What I failed to take into account I guess is the passage of time and how my own tastes have matured. It's been seven years since Amanda's debut work and yet 'she followed the moon back to herself' follows the exact same formulas and shows a rather alarming lack of sophistication and development on Lovelace's part. 

I was unfortunately taken aback by the immature and frankly, juvenile style of writing. For a poet now in her thirties, I had hoped to see some semblance of evolution from her early days but this collection read like some angsty teenage Tumblr post circa 2007. Half the book was a wallpaper-style repeat graphic so the actual collection took me about 15 minutes to read. It was shallow and lazy and I sadly believe that it's work like this that gives poetry a bad name and is why many poets struggle to be taken seriously.

I'm disappointed to have to give such a harsh review but I honestly hoped for much much more than this.

Thank you to Netgalley and Andrew McMeel Publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

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

4.0

Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective 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

5.0

 I laughed my ass off the whole way through this book. 
 
It was so funny?? How does one write such a funny book?? Does Rebecca KNOW how funny it is? Did she try? These are the questions I’d love to know the answer to. 
 
It’s a particular kind of humour that I do think is deeply resonant with readers who have grown up in Aotearoa. There were several dry moments that made me chuckle in large part because they were very relatable with my own childhood experience, FOR EXAMPLE, the reference to wearing Etnies skate shoes in 2003 coz my god, Etnies had us all in a chokehold I swear. 
 
But actually, the book was just incredibly well and cleverly written. The characters were some of the most well-developed I’ve ever read and their intricacies and nuances were fascinating. It’s also one of the best LGBTQIA+ books I’ve ever read which was a very nice surprise as although I knew it had queer characters, I was not expecting it to be as much of a pivotal part of the different characters’ storylines. 
 
I loved the interesting dynamics of such a mixed and blended family, although I would have liked to know more about Beatrice/Betty. There were a few scenes that felt like they were setting up to tell more of her backstory but were left unresolved. I would have liked to know more about what it was like for Betty marrying into a Russian family and having seemingly little to no contact or interaction with the rest of her whenua. 
 
Greta and Valdin’s respected AuDHD tendencies were extremely relatable too as a fellow AuDHD girly, although I wish I was as funny. 
 
This book made me realise how hungry I am for more stories about mixed-race/interracial families in Aotearoa. It’s one of the best books I’ve read hands down and I am SO GLAD that it’s being published in the US because I truly feel I need to shout about it from the rooftops!!! 
 
Loved it so much, I’d give it more stars if I could. 
Piglet by Lottie Hazell

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

3.5

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0