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thereadingraccoon's reviews
1495 reviews
The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
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? No
4.0
The Angel of Indian Lake is the third book in the Indian Lake trilogy it has elements of supernatural and slasher horror.
Jade Daniels is twenty-four, out of prison and back in Proofrock as the high school history teacher. She’s hoping for a quiet life with her found family (Letha the “final girl” in the last two books, her sheriff husband their little girl) but as always Proofrock isn’t done with it’s residents and on Halloween it explodes into a night of violence. The book opens with a discovery of the bodies missing from 2019 and doesn’t let up until the very end. As before, we have multiple suspects (both supernatural and human), lots of gore and Jade’s endless horror movie references. It’s hard for my brain to track everything that’s going on but it’s a smart, funny read that’s never boring.
If you don’t flinch in the face of gore and want a complex trilogy with complicated young woman, commentary on colonialism and Native American history and lots of references to the horror movie genre check out the Indian Lake trilogy.
The Trail of Lost Hearts by Tracey Garvis Graves
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The Trail of Lost Hearts is an adult contemporary romance novel about two thirty-somethings that meet on an an Oregon hiking trail and agree to team up.
Wren and Marshall meet during one of the lowest parts of their lives. Ohio native Wren has been in a dark place since the devastating end to her engagement and believes that taking a series of geocaching (gps style scavenger hunts) hikes in Oregon will be the answer to her grief and heartbreak. Marshall is still recovering from the pain and guilt around the loss of his younger brother when he meets Wren hiking and rescues her from a dangerous situation. After deciding that two heads are better than one they team up and hit the trails together and fall for each other along the way. But the two will need to overcome the grief of their past, unexpected news and the long distance if they are going to make a relationship work.
The Trail of Lost Hearts is about what it takes to make a love story work when life throws challenges your way. It is nicely paced and I was glad the outdoor hiking scenes were kept to the beginning of the book although I’m sure camping and outdoorsy readers would enjoy these scenes more than I do. I wish I felt more of an investment in the romantic relationship but for some reason I didn’t connect with Wren and Marshall. Whether it was a lack of chemistry on the page or the timeline of their romance it just didn’t work for me but overall it was an enjoyable read.
3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
🎧 narration notes: the audiobook of The Trail of Lost Hearts is narrated by read by Kate Handford and Eric Meyers. They do an excellent job and fit the voices of the main characters.
F the Fairy Tale: Rewrite the Dating Myths and Live Your Own Love Story by Damona Hoffman
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
F The Fairy Tale: Rewrite the Dating Myths and Live Your Own Love Story by Damona Hoffman is a modern dating guide that covers the common pitfalls and myths that keep couples from finding love in the modern dating app era. She uses examples from her life as a podcast host, tv love expert, columnist and dating app spokesperson to shine a light on some challenges that people have encountered and how to avoid them. She gives practical advice on filtering matches, communication and building connection.
I found this to be a helpful and enjoyable read that uses statistics, common myths and actual experiences with dating to help readers find lasting relationships. Even if you are already in a relationship (like me) there is some solid information about expectation, communication and attachment styles that is helpful in all facets of life.
Lilith by Eric Rickstad
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Lilith is a contemporary thriller about a kindergarten teacher and mother that survives a school shooting only to craft her own revenge against the men she believes profit and gain from gun violence.
Elisabeth is teaching kindergarten at the school she shares with her young son when violence erupts. She barely makes it out alive with her class when she runs back in to save her son. As the world hails her as a hero she is consumed by thoughts of rage toward the latest presidential candidate, a gun store owning pundit that uses her tragedy to push the “arm all teachers” concept. Using her only connection to the gun world and her superior intellect Elisabeth takes revenge as her alter ego “Lilith” which in turn fuels the imaginations of women across the country. But no crime is perfect and she’ll have to tie up any loose ends if she’s going to escape notice of the FBI and dedicate herself to her son’s recovery.
This was a fast read and a thoughtful revenge fantasy that will resonate with readers frustrated and angry about the state of gun violence in the U.S. Despite the fact that logically Elisabeth’s “fight fire with fire” and using gun violence to solve gun violence make little sense on paper it still makes an interesting and challenging read. Because the book opens the morning of the shooting we don’t get much background on Elisabeth the person so I consider this more of a plot driven book with increasing tension as it heads toward the conclusion. I recommend it to readers that enjoy crime thrillers with morally gray main characters.
4 stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Happy-Go-Lucky is a collection of essays by humorist David Sedaris. It includes musings about travel, friends, family, long term relationships, death and the strange year we all had in 2020.
Like all this other writings Happy-Go-Lucky is laugh out loud funny with twinges of grief and pain underneath. David reminisces about his father leading up to his death at ninety-eight, people he’s met on the road, his long term relationship with Hugh and his siblings.
The chapter that was probably the most difficult for me was “Bruises”. It’s about a twelve year old French boy with a crush on forty-one year old David. It felt uncomfortable and I was embarrassed for this child and I wish it wasn’t included. Equally uncomfortable is “Lady Marmalade” where David remembers some of the inappropriate interactions that he and his siblings had with his father over the years culminating in his late sister Tiffany’s allegations of abuse.
With the exception of the two chapters I mentioned I enjoyed Happy-Go-Lucky and look forward to more from David Sedaris.
In the Orbit of You by Ashley Schumacher
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Book Review: In the Orbit of You by Ashley Schumacher
In the Orbit of You is a young adult contemporary romance novel about two teens that were childhood best friends and meet again in high school.
Nova and her mother have been moving back and forth across the country for years and never settling in one place for long. But when she was five her best friend was Sam and they played outside together everyday until he was abruptly removed from his parents and sent to live with his aunt and uncle. Now, a dozen years later Sam and Nova are in the same school together and an online personality test said they are nearly a perfect match. The only problem? Nova is only town for two months and Sam has a girlfriend. Sam and Nova will struggle with their identities, what they want for the future and if they truly belong together or if what they had should remain in the past.
In the Orbit of You is a beautiful love story about two people fated to be together. I love the choices the author made by acknowledging the need for the characters to grow up a little and find their place in the world instead of clinging to each other like anchors. I also appreciate that she didn’t make Sam’s girlfriend Abigail a villain or a nemesis to Nova but instead a whole person instead of a caricature. Also, Sam’s childhood abuse and PTSD was handled in a realistic and thoughtful way instead of making it salacious.
I highly recommend In the Orbit of You to readers that enjoy coming of age stories and romance.
4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Echostar by Melinda Salisbury
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Book Review: EchoStar: is always listening by Melinda Salisbury
EchoStar is a teen science fiction novel about a fourteen year old girl that downloads an app that is supposed to help her with school and instead turns her life upside down.
Ruby Brookes is a teenage theatre kid who is looking forward to attending a performing arts summer camp with her best friend Deva. But Deva won’t be able to go unless she gets her grades up and she finds an AI app (EchoStar) that will help her cheat in her classes. When Ruby gets her progress report she realizes she’s in the exact same boat she tracks down a representative of EchoStar to get her own copy. When their friendship starts to fall apart and the app starts saying strange things Ruby realizes she is in way over her head.
Although the publisher has EchoStar rated as young adult it felt similar to a middle grade technological thriller or horror to me. This isn’t a knock against the book but just a missed opportunity in marketing as it’s only 128 pages and has no extreme violence or any romantic content that would make it inappropriate for this age group. The storyline about bullying, friend groups and cyber stalking is the perfect topic for younger teens and the fast pace would keep them interested.
The Other Lola by Ripley Jones
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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? No
4.0
The Other Lola is the follow-up to the young adult mystery novel Missing Clarissa. In this book amateur sleuths and high school seniors Blair and Cam are pulled back into another local missing person case.
When fifteen-year-old Lola Brossilard disappeared from her own house party five years ago no one searched that hard for her including her own family. She was considered a trouble maker and a drug user and running off wouldn’t be that out of character. But now she’s back and her little sister Mattie isn’t buying it. They (note: Mattie uses they/them pronouns) were only ten when Lola disappeared but they know that this person is not their sister and enlists local teen crime solvers and former podcasters Blair and Cam to figure out where the real Lola went. Blair and Cam are still dealing with the trauma and notoriety around the Clarissa case and are reluctant to jump back into crime solving. But Blair has been offered a book deal by a New York publisher and Cam is having a hard time saying “no” to young Mattie. Soon they are both questioning Lola’s ex-boyfriend, best friend, twin brother and law enforcement in the hopes of getting to the bottom of where Lola went. But the other Lola isn’t going anywhere and someone wants them to stop asking questions.
This was another solid mystery and thriller by Ripley Jones. I loved the idea of a “changling” or a “cuckoo in the nest” plot with both the reader and the characters unsure of who exactly this Lola is and if she could possibly be a fake. I also enjoy Cam’s relationship with both Blair and her mother Irene and all of the banter that comes with it. The descriptions of Washington are very spot on and add to the overall mood of the story. This was a solid young adult mystery and I look forward to reading more from Ripley Jones.
4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🎧 audiobook notes: The Other Lola was narrated by Inés del Castillo who does an excellent job with the teen voices of Blair, Cam and Mattie but also mom Irene and the male characters.
Three Kinds of Lucky by Kim Harrison
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Book Review: Three Kinds of Lucky by Kim Harrison
Three Kinds of Lucky is a contemporary urban fantasy about a magical garbage collector that gets pulled into a power struggle within the mage community.
Petra Grady is an Arizona “sweeper” who is in charge of gathering and disposing of the magical castoffs called “dross” created by the local mages. It is not considered a particularly glamorous or high profile job and there is tension between the sweepers and the mages who don’t enjoy paying them to clean up after them. Petra is assigned to work on a new dross disposal technique with her former middle-school crush and mage (Professor Benedict “Benny” Stom) but she immediately has doubts about its safety. When her concerns become a reality she finds herself on the run and no one in her life is who she thought they were including herself.
I was really excited for the start of a new Kim Harrison series because I enjoyed The Hollows and The Peri Reed Chronicles. But this one was a little disappointing. The plot is so bogged down in the details and lingo around the magical system that it’s hard to just sit back and enjoy. And although there is a lot of action the endless descriptions of dross and gathering dross and what to do about dross slow the book down and make it drag. At just over 450 pages it shouldn’t have felt so long but the last fifteen percent was a total slog. I did like the main character (although she has a real “not like other girls” vibe) and some of the side characters are okay (although she never did get an explanation or an apology of why Benny was so awful to her in middle school) and the crosses and double-crosses were interesting. I am also curious going forward with the series that with all the world building out of the way if future installments will be a more enjoyable read and less of an info dump.
3.5 stars
The Porcelain Maker by Sarah Freethy
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The Porcelain Maker is a dual timeline novel about a couple kept apart in Germany during World War II and a woman in 1993 who follows a trail of porcelain figurines to find out the identity of her birth father.
In 1993 Clara Vogel has been searching for figurines marked as “Allach Porcelain”. She knows they are connected to her birth father but doesn’t know his name as her mother kept his identity secret until her death. Along with her adult daughter (Lotte) Clara will follow a series of clues back to Dachau, Germany.
The reader also follows the tragic love story of Bettina, a talented German artist and Max, an Austrian Jew and architect from 1925 to 1941. Their romance is set in the midst of the rise of antisemitism in Germany and they can’t marry and live in poverty and constant fear of being turned in by their neighbors. When the worst happens and Max is sent to a labor camp Bettina will go to great lengths to protect both Max and their future family.
Like many novels that tell a story about this dark time in world history The Porcelain Maker shows a couple devoted to each other and their art stuck in a regime that had no respect for love or free expression. I appreciated everything I learned about how art was quickly politicized with the modern styles (like what Bettina created) on the outs and anything that glorified the “Germanic spirit” the new ideal. There are plenty of people to hate in The Porcelain Maker but also plenty that tried to fight for what was right and I thought the author did an excellent job of showing the various reactions by German citizens to what was happening around them.
Although this is not a particularly fast- paced or light in tone novel I think readers will appreciate Max and Bettina’s devotion, Clara’s determined search and what she and Lotte are able to create out their family history.