southernbibliomom's reviews
179 reviews

Iron Flame (Parts 1 & 2) [Dramatized Adaptation] by Rebecca Yarros

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I listened to the graphic audio version in my reread to get ready for Onyx Storm. It’s excellent!
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

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funny lighthearted tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Home Is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose

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emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This book is a quick thriller that centers around three siblings (Beth, Nicole, and Michael), who have come together to lay their recently deceased mother to rest. While staying in their childhood home, they discover a videotape that seems to show their parents’ involvement with a town mystery. As they try to navigate what to do and how much their parents are responsible for, they also must learn whether they want to be a family again and to forgive the hurts. I liked the family aspect of it. It seemed real. How the hurts and frustrations would bubble up. How you would be reeling after the discovery they initially made, and then each discovery after. However, the twist is just not a twist. I don’t think I was 1/3 of the way in when I called it. In fact, it’s pretty obvious. And because I had figured it out so quickly, there were some boring parts of the book. It’s fine just not great.
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

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

3.5

I know that this is a beloved series. But this book was so ssssslllllooooowwww. I like Celaena. She’s been through some stuff and is still strong and able to inspire people to follow her. This just took so long to get going for me. The last 1/4 of the book is really good. But it was hard to get to that point. I will keep reading the series as I hear it gets to superb status soon.
Fourth Wing (Parts 1 & 2) [Dramatized Adaptation] by Rebecca Yarros

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adventurous challenging inspiring tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I already did a review of this book when I read it with my eyes. For the reread I listened to this dramatized version. I thought it was outstanding and I still am not over Liam!
The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith

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

5.0

How dare the author leave me on that emotional cliffhanger with the next book not coming out until September! I will always listen to these on audible because the narrator is *chef’s kiss* - just everything you want in a dream narrator. This installment finds Strike and Robin investigating a cult. Not just a small one either. One that has ties to celebrity and has been “controversial” for decades. However, when a wealthy family wants help talking to their son who is immersed in said cult and cut off communication, Robin decides to go undercover. For months she is indoctrinated, starved, over worked, and punished by this brutal cult. But Robin is stronger than they think. And her connection to Strike comes through beautifully. This is the best installment so far. It has the cult, the tension where I was literally talking out loud to the characters, and then of course the relationship between Strike and Robin. Robin is now in a relationship with Ryan Murphy who we met the last book, but will that one prevail? Strike of course makes the mistake he always seems to make when he is trying to get over Robin, but I won’t spoil it, you do see some real growth from him here. And then the ending. Listening to the lay out of the case was great, but it’s the very end in a moment between Strike and Robin with Murphy interrupting, that I am not sure I will forgive the author for. I need resolution! 
The Mindf*ck Series by S.T. Abby

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Holy wow! FBI agent falls for a serial killer. But this killer has a rhyme and reason. What happens when the monster is the hero and the heroes are really the monsters? What happens when justice is denied? What do you do when the ones who are supposed to stand up, choose to hide it all … again? I finished the whole series in 24 hours. It kept me hooked and definitely asking what does justice mean. I really loved the main female character. She was strong and smart yet vulnerable. A serious page turner!
Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney

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

5.0

Wow! This definitely kept me up too late turning just 1 more page! It is so tense and such a wild ride. Told from the perspectives of three characters, it keeps you just off balance enough. The story centers around husband and wife Adam and Amelia who are coming to Scotland to holiday at a remote chapel turned vacation home as a way to save their marriage. They both have secrets, but it’s the house and a mysterious woman who lives on the property that become their immediate concern. Who is she? What does she want? Who really got them to this particular vacation rental? And will they all make it out? So many swings for me in this and man what a twist! Highly recommend!!
The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith

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

4.5

This is book 6 in the Cormoran Strike series. They just keep getting better. However, I will say this one went on a little longer than I think was necessary. It centers around a YouTube turned Netflix hit called The Ink Black Heart. The female co-creator is being relentlessly bullied online by the creator of an online game that began as an homage to the cartoon. However, with the news of a major motion picture, the bullying escalates until it ends in murder. Robin and Strike have been hired by the movie studio to figure out who this anonymous bully/murderer is. The deeper they get into the investigation, the more bodies keep piling up. Ending with a bang. While I think the middle investigation into the plethora of suspects could have been cut down a bit, it was a really good and intriguing story. I really liked how some of what we learn as a reader is through reading private online messages, so it really immersed me into the story. And the tension that is between Robin and Strike as each come to terms with how they feel and the ways they try to deny or work through said feelings is so very them. One thing that is consistent throughout all of these audio books is narrator, Robert Glenister. He is outstanding. Probably the best narrator I have ever heard. It really feels like I am hearing all different people. Which is amazing considering the number of female characters he has to do. I very much appreciate he doesn’t use that high pitched squeaky tone for women that many narrators use. He is perfection! Highly recommend!
The Life Impossible by Matt Haig

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emotional mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

This book was ok. But it was so slow and boring through a big chunk. I pushed through but it was almost like a tween wrote the ending. One caricature bad guy. All bad for not really great reasons. No depth. No complication. He might as well have had a mustache he twirled while cackling. I did like Grace and Alberto and Marta. I liked the theme of guilt and how it can steadily take over your life. How sometimes the hardest thing you can do is forgive yourself, move on and find joy again. But even in that, the main character doesn’t deal with certain aspects of her guilt, she’s just sort of told it’s ok I did it too. I felt like this had potential, but wasn’t flushed out well. Disappointing.