Normally, I avoid certain books (especially from Booktok or Booktube) because of content or trigger warnings. There are some books too explicit, too dark, too much with an ick of mine… but this time, I threw out all the rules.
I decided to read books that people swear are amazing, and ignore all my normal rules for reading – triggers and all! Let’s see if it was worth it 🙂
Having this many POV can sometimes be a bit messy, but I think this was really well done. It added such incredible drama to the story, I love to jump in and out of people’s perspectives, plus when everybody in a heist is in a different spot as part of the team layout like this is necessary. I liked everyone. All the characters in their own ways were fantastic, they interacted with each other really well, and the plot moved forward with these character dynamics in mind. The actual heist/prison break itself was really well done. I enjoyed the setup, the planning, the execution, and everything in between. The magic system was quite good, it was a bit of a spin on the normal type of abilities you can see in people. I like the way that this particular system spun things, and I would love to see more.
Wow. I wasn’t gonna read a book by Colleen but I’m really glad I chose this one. Even though there are some pretty intense themes in the story, I really enjoyed most of this. There is a little bit of trauma bonding, but a lot of really funny and cute moments as well. I was a lot more invested than I thought I would be. I liked the characters and the plot – it was really engaging.
I really wish this was not as spicy as it was, because I really liked this book. I don’t usually like spice however I was reading this as part of a challenge. The dynamics with the characters in this book was so fun to watch unfold. They were hilarious, I enjoyed the plot but it’s definitely a romance book that focuses on characters which was fine. I loved the characters. I had so much fun and I was giggling so often that if anyone else was home, they would’ve thought I was crazy.
This book was not what I expected. There was some parts of that I really liked, like looking into the Hollywood in the golden age. I also appreciated how candid the character of Evelyn Hugo was, and the way the relationship with Monique was explored. I understand what the book was doing, but if I knew that going in, I probably wouldn’t have read it. Pretty well written, pretty interesting the way the plot was expressed, and pretty engaging characters.
I think this experiment was a success! For the most part, I got great books, some of which taking me by utter surprise! While I am happy that I opened up my expectations for this, I’m not sure if I will keep going…
Just kidding – let’s do it again!
Have you read any of these? Let me know what you thought of them.
I’m reading authors that I didn’t enjoy the first time, and seeing if another of their books proves it was a one off. So let’s do this!
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
First Book – The Inheritance Games
Interesting puzzles. Fun characters. Solid writing style. Characters certainly hit the buzz words/characteristics – independent “don’tneedaman” women, “diversity” “broodingandsensitive” and “imamazingbutdontrealisetheyallcareforme”
A personal dislike was the few mentions every so often of new age references.
Second Book – The Hawthorne Legacy
Intriguing puzzles and more complex personal dynamics than ever before. It’s been a while since I had read book 1, but I picked up where I left off pretty well. Short and sharp chapters, clever and always keeping you guessing.
Summary
I know what you’re thinking, why did I have to give a second chance for a book I rated 4 stars! Well, it’s because I completely wiped this author off my list after this book. Honestly, it was not a decision that I recall. Ultimately, I liked continuing the series and I think I will indeed come back to this author again.
Matthew Reilly
First book: Cobolt Blue
Potential, but disappointing follow through.
This book was power rangers meets superhero bloodbath.
It was violently unnecessary and way too quick. No development of characters or world, instead one of the most annoying parts.
This book is almost entirely ‘flashback’ driven. It’s almost all info dump flashbacks instead of cleverly weaved world building and information provided as the story progresses.
The author couldn’t have screamed ‘Gold is the GAY character’ any louder – so much so that he became a characature instead of a real person. You can actually write gay characters without screaming it from the rooftop every time you mention them.
A thoroughly disgusting portrayal of a Christian (most of us ARE NOT like that), which was totally unnecessary.
This was short but certainly not sweet. It was irritating at the lack of depth and development. It felt like someone edited out half the story and just left the action scenes and random exposition.
Second book: Hover Car Racer
I loved the look not just at racing, but racing hover cars at a pro level, with an underdog team. The racing school and all other races were great, I loved the dynamics between characters and racers. Special place in my heart for The Bug who was a quirky addition to the team, and it was a really fun time all around. I wasn’t sure if the racing would lose my attention, but because of the hover car element it actually kept it quite well. The way the races were set out and described was fascinating.
Summary
I was not impressed with Matthew’s book Cobolt Blue – which was a superhero novella. The second story I tried however, Hover Car Racer, was my first five star read in quite a while. It was fast, fun and full of action and adventure. I’m glad I said yes to this second chance!
Taylor Jenkins Reid
First book: Daisy Jones and the Six
I’m going to try and condense my review to short and sharp with no spoilers… so here we go. Lots of drug abuse and sexual references. Selfish characters who were horrible to each other and I didn’t feel sorry for any of them. The writing structure of interview was fun, and it was an easy style to get through quickly, but that wasn’t enough to save it from me. Some of the trigger warnings should be noted and I will include them here:
Content Warning: drug abuse; sexual references and content; abortion; domestic abuse; alcoholism; cursing
Second book: Carrie Soto Is Back
I quite liked this one. I had tried other TJR books and not enjoyed it but this one was actually a good read for me.
No objectionable content outside of the unlikable main character (purposely written that way) who was such a bad sport/sore loser that it was pretty much insufferable but outside of that, you root for an unlikable person. I suppose because she’s the only one to root for because she’s the only tennis star we really know a lot about (outside of her male counterpart).
The tennis stuff was pretty uninteresting for me (not a sport girlie) but not so bad that I couldn’t continue on – palpable, which was nice.
Even though we had an unlikable character who was a shocking sport, self destructive and basically earned the name she was labelled, somehow it was still an enjoyable read. I can’t quite put my finger on why… I think it’s chalked up to being well written and not pushing the boundaries of unlikable too far. We did get somewhat redemptive information revealed and maybe that’s why I ended up finishing this book with a “it’s pretty good” opinion.
Summary
I am glad I gave another TJR book a go. While it wasn’t a 5 star banger, Carrie Soto was still a better read that I enjoyed more (and surprised me) than Daisy Jones.
Holly Jackson
A Good Girls Guide To Murder – first book
Did not finish book. Stopped at 30%.
I looked into the trigger warnings when I was part way through and decided not to keep going. It was fine, but eh…
The Reappearance of Rachel Price – second book
Kept me pretty interested. I actually couldn’t stand the suspense on who to trust and who not to so I looked up spoilers around halfway through. You basically couldn’t trust ANYONE in this story, and that drove me a little insane. It keeps you on the edge but it’s also maddening to try and connect to anyone. Anyone at all. At one point or another I basically hated everyone. It was twisty and maddening, and yet it still had me. It was really well done. The mystery overall was unexpected and great. The documentary elements were fun. Characters were a disaster, but on purpose.
Triggers/content warnings: Cursing is moderate. Domestic relationships are complex and gaslighting/abuse is present in various relationships. Kidnapping.
Summary
I have attempted and DNFd two books by Holly and thought that maybe she wasn’t for me. However, third time was the one that I not only made all the way through, but actually enjoyed.
David Yoon
Super Fake Love Song – first book
2.5 stars dnf (skipped to end) at 1/3 mark
Funny writing, likeable and Interesting characters and story idea. What killed it for me, were the too many satanic/demonic references.
Frankly I’m Love – second book
Okay, so the satanic references were not specific to the other David Yoon book I read, but neither was the humor.
He’s funny. It was funny.
Racism explored, immigrants explored, terminal illness and cancer along with fake dating and high school shenanigans.
It was pretty good.
Summary
I am glad that I read another of David Yoon’s books because they are hilarious. I will say, more surprising satanic references, but nowhere close to the previous book I had read.
Katherine Centre
The Bodyguard – first book
Too slow to start. Not a fan of grief as a big character focus. Felt meh about it so didn’t continue.
The Bodyguard – second book
I’m so glad I gave this book another shot because I actually really enjoyed it! It was slow to start, with a lot of grief hitting you in the face, but once we got past that and it took off running, I really enjoyed it. I liked the dynamic between the main characters, the element of fake dating and while serious drama or grief are not themes I normally gravitate towards, I think the author did a good job representing them.
Summary
I know, it’s the same book. But I honestly decided to give The Bodyguard another chance, and I’m glad I did. This was a win for sure, and probably not what I needed to read when I first gave it a go. Mood reading is definitely a thing people!
Ha! So it was mostly worth the second try… it was surprising but amazing to find out that even though one book was a fail for me, doesn’t mean the author themselves will be. It all depends on the story and the kind of book I’m interested in at the time of reading.
I made it three chapters into this book before giving up. The mystery didn’t grip me and I didn’t really care what happened to the brother. The characters were unlikable and I did not appreciate the sexual sense of humour that seemed a feature in one group of people. It reminded me of Only Murderers In The Building, but not as good… not the same charm that show had.
So this one was interesting. I didn’t read much of the middle, just the first few sections and the last few sections. After finding out what happened in the end of the book, I actually had no desire to read the rest. I knew how it ended and honestly, that was enough for me. It was set up in an interesting way, and I can get behind snobby writing and characters, but this level of tragedy and snob combined was just a little much for me.
I’m going to try and condense my review to short and sharp with no spoilers… so here we go. Lots of drug abuse and sexual references. Selfish characters who were horrible to each other and I didn’t feel sorry for any of them. The writing structure of interview was fun, and it was an easy style to get through quickly, but that wasn’t enough to save it from me. Some of the trigger warnings should be noted and I will include them here:
Content Warning: drug abuse; sexual references and content; abortion; domestic abuse; alcoholism; cursing
Another case of beginning chapter and final one. I didn’t like the over use of swearing, the disrespectful slant towards Christians, and the toxic relationship between grumpy and grumpier… yeah it was a no for me.
Also, waiting until basically the end of the book to see if the characters end up together is a hard pass for me.
The only reason this one is a “fail” is because I’m not going to hold onto it. I don’t think I would ever read it again, but warning – I did actually somewhat enjoy this book when I read it.
I really liked The Midnight Library. I honestly don’t understand why some people have compared this to a self help type of book – it isn’t. It’s more of a contemplating life and what that means book. Thinking, not feeling (which I feel is a major difference between self help and philosophical). The writing did at times, feel quite pretentious- like someone who wanted you to know they were well educated. On the whole though, if you accepted that fact, it still felt very well done. I loved the idea explored of parallel lives and what small decisions and regrets can look like if they are changed. Overall, thumbs up.
Those were my most recent Booktube fails, which goes to show that sometimes you CAN’T trust a stranger on the internet when you’re getting book reviews.
There are certain authors that are ALL over the book community. Be it Booktube, Booktok, Bookstagram etc – some authors seem to get all the hype, all the time.
So, I decided to find out what the heck the fuss was about and make my way through some of these authors. This is going to take a while (considering just how many seem to come and go), so I decided to start with a simple one.
So…. what to say about this book. I think I understand why people like it. Taylor has an easy to read writing style, and the structure being written as interviews was really fun. There was just more reasons for me NOT to like this book than to like it.
I am so sick of reading books that are sad, twisted up and un-romantic in almost every sense of the word. Cheating tropes are NOT for me. Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll are NOT for me either. I will do some R&R but I don’t appreciate it being attached to the others. I didn’t like reading about drug addicts who screwed everything and anything on two legs. I didn’t like reading about cheating – because whether you think so or not, emotional cheating is TOTALLY a thing. I didn’t like reading about selfish people who can’t see past their own desires and hurt to actually do the right think.
BILLY
I didn’t like Billy. At all. I appreciated that he wanted to do the right thing by his wife Camilla, and props to him for “mostly” sticking with that once he decided to get sober. But seriously, if someone is becoming a dangerous draw to you while you’re trying to remain sober and stick to your wedding vows – RUN!!!! RUN AWAY!!!! Screw the band, screw the fame and money, just run as fast as you possibly can. Don’t stick around and give her hope there could be something more between you, or that you could keep going in limbo. Just get the heck out.
DAISY
Daisy was so strung out all of the entire book, and I lost my empathy for her. She didn’t care that she was hurting people, she didn’t care enough to get help for herself, and it quite honestly didn’t seem likely that she had that much talent with not that much heart. The book bent over backwards to try and paint her as someone who felt everything very deeply, and was just a “messed up kid” type of character, but she came across as shallow, selfish, irritating and a pain in the backside. I didn’t care about her arc, or where she ended up at all.
KAREN & GRAHAM
This relationship had me rooting for them in the beginning.. but somewhere along the line it lost me. I say somewhere like I don’t know EXACTLY when I decided that one of these characters was the most selfish human being on the planet. I know this is going to be a controversial view point, but I’m honestly so unimpressed with the way their story progressed and the ultimate conflict happened. I think one of them was so utterly selfish, and the other didn’t express their desires in an appropriate way. It’s one thing to make unilateral decisions in a relationship, but it needs to be discussed at length, and also agreed on by all parties. It would be the same if one of these characters wanted to move to mars, and the other didn’t – you wouldn’t just write someone a note and say “see you when I get off the space shuttle in another fifteen years”. I liked them together, until I realised that one person was far more interested in their career than actually building a relationship. So when their conclusion came to a head, I felt like my rooting for them the ENTIRE book was utterly wasted.
EDDIE, PETE & WARREN
Eddie was a dickhead, and Pete was barely there. I liked how there was really only ONE interview from Pete at the very end, telling the author he didn’t care to make much of a comment. It was totally in line with his character. Eddie was just an absolute tool, and I don’t even know why he was necessary to the story… basically everything could have happened in this book without Eddie, Pete and Warren and it wouldn’t have made a bit of difference that they weren’t there. Warren was the MOST chill out of all these characters, and quite honestly felt very out of place with the rest of the chaos. But I liked that he didn’t give a crap.
THE RECORD PEOPLE
Background people like agents and record producers (who did hold central to several plot points) were fine and important to the plot but it was hard for me to feel connected to them. There were SO VERY MANY CHARACTERS, it was hard to keep track.
SIMONE
She was the ONLY character in the whole book who I actually liked. She was also the only one with any common sense and self awareness, and she really only popped up every so often. Dragging your friend away from a toxic situation when she can’t do it herself is one of the only sane things that happened in this book… so yup, I liked her.
There was more cussing than I’d appreciate, and a lot of topics that even as a musician and person who LOVES music, I didn’t care about. There were too many characters to keep track of, and too much happening all at once. I did not find myself caring much about anything at the end, and where it ended felt a little like How I Met Your Mother… So yeah, that was my first TJR book.
Have you read Daisy Jones & The Six? Do you agree, or disagree with my points? What about the coming television adaption, are you excited or not? Tell me in the comments!
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