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thebooksatchel's reviews
521 reviews
When We Lost Our Heads by Heather O'Neill
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
5.0
What a fantastic book! Gorgeous language, gloriously queer, unapologetic about women's desire.
The Education of Yuri by Jerry Pinto
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Thoroughly enjoyed this coming of age set in Bombay. It made me nostalgic about the city, college life, food with friends, questions in the mind of a young person, class and privielege. More thoughts and things to think about atThe Satchel Book Club post series https://www.instagram.com/p/CpK2X-Fr7DM/
Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
Enjoyed this book about nine strangers in an isolated wellness retreat.
What i enjoyed?
- The Liane Moriarty magic
- The cult-ness
- The backstories of the nine characters. The story of the couple and their daughter who checked in to the retreat was my favorite. Their son died by suicide and the guilt and sadness weighs differently on each of them—the mother, the father, and sister. I loved how the story unfolded. And even shed a few tears.
- Found myself chuckling and also feeling incredibly sad for the romance novelist who fell for a romance scam and is now very much troubled by a bad review of her book even though she is a successful novelist. I enjoyed her dyanamic with the daughter mentioned above.
The bad bits
- All's alright for about 70% of the book. And then I lost all interest. It seemed bizarre and slightly boring, hence disappointing.
- The plot is quite unbelievable. I kept wondering 60% into the book, why are these people not reacting? Why are they going along the ride?
-Honestly not sure how you can simply drug people? Wouldn't they sue the retreat? Why take that risk? Also why were these people not outraged enough after finding out they've been drugged? Or are rich people stupid?
What i enjoyed?
- The Liane Moriarty magic
- The cult-ness
- The backstories of the nine characters. The story of the couple and their daughter who checked in to the retreat was my favorite. Their son died by suicide and the guilt and sadness weighs differently on each of them—the mother, the father, and sister. I loved how the story unfolded. And even shed a few tears.
- Found myself chuckling and also feeling incredibly sad for the romance novelist who fell for a romance scam and is now very much troubled by a bad review of her book even though she is a successful novelist. I enjoyed her dyanamic with the daughter mentioned above.
The bad bits
- All's alright for about 70% of the book. And then I lost all interest. It seemed bizarre and slightly boring, hence disappointing.
- The plot is quite unbelievable. I kept wondering 60% into the book, why are these people not reacting? Why are they going along the ride?
-
The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory
My thoughts while reading this book : *butterflies* *butterflies* GROAAAAAAN
What to expect?
- the cutest meet-cute in an elevator.
- witty banter between Drew and Alexa
- lots of steamy hot sex
- walks, picnics, donuts (lots!)
- interracial long distance fake dating. Drew is a white, busy doctor and Alexa is a black, busy, lawyer working at the mayor's office.
This book can be summarized as meet cute, sex and THEN fly and see each other, more sex, fly, sex, fly, sex, on repeat. Like that's the only thing that happens.
- I really wished to see more actual chemistry between the characters. I am not sure what was missing. Because Drew listens, asks questions about work, checks on his white privilege and things he might've taken for granted occasionally, flies to be with the girl he adores. And YET there was hardly any chemistry. It felt hollow. The sex is great though.
- Social commentary like privilege, micro aggressions, insecurities when a curvy, short black woman lives in a society that is kinder towards white, thin women, projects to help teens, projects with social causes and opposition towards them etc.
Also loved the fact that the characters actually wade through the pressures of having a job.
What irked me?
DREW. If you meet a man like Drew in real life, it's time to RUN. No sex is that good to put up with this guy. He is a complete douche at so many points in the story. And if I were Alexa's friend, I would ask her to stop seeing this guy.
A person's character is defined by how he treats his friends. Drew's black friend Carlos is so badly treated that I thought my eyes would ROLL OFF MY FACE. I wanted to tell Carlos to get this white whiny dude out of his life. Also he is a shitty doctor too. Talk about professionalism.
- Drew has not done anything out of his own thinking. Ways to win back Alexa? A patient's mom's idea. Processing what went wrong b/w Drew and Alexa? That's all the work for poor friend Carlos.
- He makes so many things 'all about him'. Are you happy to see me? Do you have something to tell me?'.... DUDE Stop!! I went quickly from being dreamy eyed for Drew to being blinded by red flags.
This white dude makes everybody else do all the heavy lifting. He simply gets the things he wants the easy way. Honestly Alexa deserves so much more.
- Shitty doctor. He actually 'scares the nurses' and 'makes his patients cry' acc to Carlos. After a .... bad breakup (not breakup because they were fake dating/casual dating). You are a doctor. Show some professionalism! These are real people you are dealing with at work.
- The worst friend a person could get. Carlos is such a sweet, generous, caring guy. But all Drew does is swear at him or kick him out of the house. Once he even accuses him of hitting on Alexa. And in spite of all Drew's 'bad moods' and 'tantrums', Carlos keeps trying to help him and puts up with the douche. Not to forget Drew apologizes for saying Carlos was hitting on Alexa and few minutes later, asks him again. Really! What a Mr. Doubtfire.
Carlos has to process Drew's situation for Drew, make him understand, encourage him to go for the love (cough) of his life, and EVEN GIVE HIM IDEAS. Honestly I am not sure Drew did anything at all without all the input. Zero effort.
- Does it take more than common sense to understand what Alexa might be feeling? Especially since Drew has a history of dating women for short term, and then breaking up in a nice way. And his list of exes is very very long? And this was supposed to be fake dating turned into casual dating? This dude is a doctor? With no understanding of human emotions?
- Alexa and Drew are mature adults but honestly they behave more like young adults having their first relationship. Too kiddish in some parts. Everything which could be avoided if people just talk, you know like how adults talk to one another, instead of overthinking?
- repetitive. The sex, fly, sex repetition was bearable (but also sigh) but the overthinking and not communicating part was v tiring.
Verdict:
pure escapism, hooks you in with the story.
Word of advice. If you have a date or a friend like Drew, please run for your life. All good in fiction, but you don't need this in real life
What to expect?
- the cutest meet-cute in an elevator.
- witty banter between Drew and Alexa
- lots of steamy hot sex
- walks, picnics, donuts (lots!)
- interracial long distance fake dating. Drew is a white, busy doctor and Alexa is a black, busy, lawyer working at the mayor's office.
This book can be summarized as meet cute, sex and THEN fly and see each other, more sex, fly, sex, fly, sex, on repeat. Like that's the only thing that happens.
- I really wished to see more actual chemistry between the characters. I am not sure what was missing. Because Drew listens, asks questions about work, checks on his white privilege and things he might've taken for granted occasionally, flies to be with the girl he adores. And YET there was hardly any chemistry. It felt hollow. The sex is great though.
- Social commentary like privilege, micro aggressions, insecurities when a curvy, short black woman lives in a society that is kinder towards white, thin women, projects to help teens, projects with social causes and opposition towards them etc.
Also loved the fact that the characters actually wade through the pressures of having a job.
What irked me?
DREW. If you meet a man like Drew in real life, it's time to RUN. No sex is that good to put up with this guy. He is a complete douche at so many points in the story. And if I were Alexa's friend, I would ask her to stop seeing this guy.
A person's character is defined by how he treats his friends. Drew's black friend Carlos is so badly treated that I thought my eyes would ROLL OFF MY FACE. I wanted to tell Carlos to get this white whiny dude out of his life. Also he is a shitty doctor too. Talk about professionalism.
- Drew has not done anything out of his own thinking. Ways to win back Alexa? A patient's mom's idea. Processing what went wrong b/w Drew and Alexa? That's all the work for poor friend Carlos.
- He makes so many things 'all about him'. Are you happy to see me? Do you have something to tell me?'.... DUDE Stop!! I went quickly from being dreamy eyed for Drew to being blinded by red flags.
This white dude makes everybody else do all the heavy lifting. He simply gets the things he wants the easy way. Honestly Alexa deserves so much more.
- Shitty doctor. He actually 'scares the nurses' and 'makes his patients cry' acc to Carlos. After a .... bad breakup (not breakup because they were fake dating/casual dating). You are a doctor. Show some professionalism! These are real people you are dealing with at work.
- The worst friend a person could get. Carlos is such a sweet, generous, caring guy. But all Drew does is swear at him or kick him out of the house. Once he even accuses him of hitting on Alexa. And in spite of all Drew's 'bad moods' and 'tantrums', Carlos keeps trying to help him and puts up with the douche. Not to forget Drew apologizes for saying Carlos was hitting on Alexa and few minutes later, asks him again. Really! What a Mr. Doubtfire.
Carlos has to process Drew's situation for Drew, make him understand, encourage him to go for the love (cough) of his life, and EVEN GIVE HIM IDEAS. Honestly I am not sure Drew did anything at all without all the input. Zero effort.
- Does it take more than common sense to understand what Alexa might be feeling? Especially since Drew has a history of dating women for short term, and then breaking up in a nice way. And his list of exes is very very long? And this was supposed to be fake dating turned into casual dating? This dude is a doctor? With no understanding of human emotions?
- Alexa and Drew are mature adults but honestly they behave more like young adults having their first relationship. Too kiddish in some parts. Everything which could be avoided if people just talk, you know like how adults talk to one another, instead of overthinking?
- repetitive. The sex, fly, sex repetition was bearable (but also sigh) but the overthinking and not communicating part was v tiring.
Verdict:
pure escapism, hooks you in with the story.
Word of advice. If you have a date or a friend like Drew, please run for your life. All good in fiction, but you don't need this in real life
Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
What a ride! Very enjoyable audiobook.
What to expect?
- Agatha Christie's And then there were none style locked mansion in isolated island with high tides mystery
- Dysfunctional family
- Rich grandmother and will reading. As you can guess, the will is not pretty
- Murders at the strike of the clock
- clocks! and flowers!
- engaging writing style that reveals just enough to keep you turning pages
The not-so-good parts
- The predictability! It is such a shame when a murder mystery gets predictable. But I thoroughly enjoyed the story inspite of the predictability. I was simply hoping I would be proved wrong. Alas!
PS: not just the mystery part. you can really predict the characters if you've read enough mysteries. As someone who isn't a mystery addict, it was pretty easy even for me. But I still stand by what I said. You keep hoping you are wrong because the writing style is engaging.
- ok that ending was a bit weird
Verdict : bingeable weekend read.
What to expect?
- Agatha Christie's And then there were none style locked mansion in isolated island with high tides mystery
- Dysfunctional family
- Rich grandmother and will reading. As you can guess, the will is not pretty
- Murders at the strike of the clock
- clocks! and flowers!
- engaging writing style that reveals just enough to keep you turning pages
The not-so-good parts
- The predictability! It is such a shame when a murder mystery gets predictable. But I thoroughly enjoyed the story inspite of the predictability. I was simply hoping I would be proved wrong. Alas!
PS: not just the mystery part. you can really predict the characters if you've read enough mysteries. As someone who isn't a mystery addict, it was pretty easy even for me. But I still stand by what I said. You keep hoping you are wrong because the writing style is engaging.
- ok that ending was a bit weird
Verdict : bingeable weekend read.
Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed
medium-paced
4.5
fantastical. Magical realism lovers will love this book where politics, religion, bureucracy and mental illness blend into a magical world where wishes are for sale at a kiosk in Cairo.
4.5 stars
4.5 stars