thebooksatchel's reviews
521 reviews

A typical magical adventure story. I enjoyed the magical world. In this story, Zhi Ging must face the challenging trials set by her teachers to prove that she’s worthy of being a Silhouette or an apprentice to immortals. The story is inspired by Chinese mythology. It's a typical magical adventure story where an ordinary protagonist becomes the star of the show.
Biggest strength : The world building was great—the clouds, jelly fish system.
Weakness : But overall everything did not gel together. Some things perhaps would be developed more in the later books. The same goes for Zhi Ging—I would've liked to know her better and be really rooted in her story.

I enjoyed this book. It’s cosy and whimsical. It’s about a dream store, dreams for sale and how the payment is done and a whole staff running the store. There are even awards for best dreams at the end of the year. While I found the premise to be an amazing hook and the world to be intriguing, there wasn’t much more to it than what I knew from the blurb

This book had such a fun cover and exciting premise (wedding haters, Italy, wedding preps, friendships!) but I found the main character Andi extremely annoying.
- Fictional characters can be unlikeable of course but I didn't really root for Andi at all
- There was hardly any chemistry between the leads
- I am not sure if I felt how much the main leads hated the wedding. Perhaps Andi being annoying masked that.

What to expect?
- Christmas mystery set in 1931
- Dilapidated mansion
- Norfolk coast
- Eccentric rich family
- Manupilative mother who "loves drama" (Catchpool's mother)
- Murder at the local hospital

What I loved:
Read this book if you love Christmas-bound murder mysteries. I was very skeptical of all the characters and I kept changing my mind on who the killer could be. The mystery was very intriguing and I enjoyed it.

The so-so:
I would’ve loved to read more about Poirot though (this one’s by Catchpool). As for the mighty detective, I read them as two people—there’s Sophie Hannah’s Poirot and there’s Agatha Christie’s Poirot,, both with overlaps. If you love Agatha Christie, I am pretty sure you will enjoy the Sophie Hannah Poirot series as long as you aren’t too rigid about the characterization of Poirot.


Overall,
I don't read a Poirot mystery to critique. I simply love the familiarity, the coziness, the crime that keeps you guessing till the end, the reveal—all quintessential Agatha Christie things. I am glad Sophie Hannah keeps Poirot alive with her books.

Read with The Satchel Book Club in Jan 2024.

fun read. Can you find love by matching your DNA profiles? Very enjoyable and cute. I don't know if the scientific logic was made up or real, but it was convincing. The story fizzles out towards the end but picks up before the ending with a twist in the climax

Nice breezy read!
♟️ The guy falls first 
♟️ Kind of become chess rivals but not really rivals in real life. They fall in love studying strategies together 
♟️ Set in the world of chess tournaments. Women in a men’s world. Strong women
♟️ I found the protagonist extremely annoying. I found her sisters annoying too. Infact I abandoned the book when I first started reading it because I found the heroine annoying. I picked it up again and yes the story kept me going. I found her annoying nevertheless.
PS: This is a YA read and some YA protagonists are annoying.
♟️you’ll love this even if you don’t love chess
♟️ I think the research is good? It was very convincing anyway esp to those who don’t know much about chess
♟️ themes of family, grief, sisters etc
♟️slow romance 

3.5 stars

Escapism and very cozy. But also you shouldn't question things as you read. For example I was like WHY are they kissing right now? Or like wait, what's the motivation for this unexpected steamy, tension filled moment? Nope, don't ask any questions. Just read through all the kissing (that sometimes don't make sense at all). It is cozy, witchy, light read.
(I expected more of a grand ending but hey, there's lots of kissing)
3.5 stars

This book was a personal attack on my (lack of) skin care routine. Only Mona Awad could take red, mirrors, skin care, mothers, jellyfish, Tom Cruise (yes!) and mash into a horror gothic fairytale of obsession with beauty and youth. YES FEED ME!