Reviews and Comments

I started reading this book due to it being picked for a book club read-along that had a theme of involving New Years. I had heard of it a few times before so I was glad to have a reason to pick it up, and found it really enjoyable. There are a few twists thrown into the book, but they feel natural due to the time jumping and didn't seem outlandish.

My big take-away with this book was Oona's heavy struggle with depression and our basic human needs for connection with others. Even with using her knowledge of future events (i.e. hello stock market!), she has a really hard time with the jumping. She jumps forwards and backwards in time, always on New Year's Day, which leaves her with one year to try to figure things out in whatever age she's landed in.

As you would expect, there are a lot of pop culture references made that vary depending on the the year she's in. It does not feel forced as a flex for the author to tell you all the information that they know, but as a growing pain that Oona has to deal with so she doesn't appear out of place in her timeline.

There is heavy usage of drugs throughout the book, as well as a fair amount of spice sprinkled through, so just be warned of that before diving into it.

I really enjoyed this one and will likely revisit it at some point as it was a nice change from the heavy-handed books that I've been reading. If the premise sounds interesting to you, I would suggest giving it a go!

Actual : 4.5 stars

Weiden is an Indigenous author that I picked up for a book challenge that is meant to make me branch out my reading more. This was definitely an enjoyable read and the pacing was really good through the whole book.

There are so many issues that are covered in this book that everyone should be more aware of because they still happen to this day. The main storyline running through this book covers how there's a massive disconnect between what tribal police are able to take care of and what the feds deem to be worth their time. The disgust and disdain for the government is sprinkled liberally through, and justifiably so. These messages are so important to be able to put out there, and I'm glad that authors like Weiden are able to use their novels to get those messages out.

I don't even know how else to explain this book, other than that you should really read it. It's one that I will purchase a copy of and keep on my shelf. I only give it 4.5 stars because the audiobook was a little hard to listen to. The narrator did a bit of a weird voice when reading the women's lines, so I wasn't able to stick with it and had to switch to the physical copy instead.

I admittedly did not know anything about the Nigerian Civil War before reading this book. Tackle on the fact that I try not to read blurbs or anything about the books before starting them, this one took me entirely by surprise.

The first portion of the book reads more like a historical drama. There's family disputes, betrayals, affairs, all that soap opera goodness. Then the war breaks out and you see how much it messes everything up and how it changes the characters of the book as they try to navigate and survive the attacks.

Adichie pulls no punches when it comes to any portion of this book, especially the war portions. The descriptions of attacked areas can be quite gorey, so just be prepared for that. I feel like this is an important read and I'm definitely glad that I read it.

I will say that while I felt warmed towards some of the characters in this book in the beginning, Adichie quickly pulls out their flaws and smacks you in the face with their realities. Every character is flawed, and every character does some really dumb crap that you want to smack them for, if you don't wind up despising them. War changes everything, rarely for the better, and that message is clearly sent through this book.

It did take me a while to get through because of how heavy it was, but I recommend it, especially if you're like me and have not read anything about the Nigerian Civil War yet.

This was such a great read. It had me sucked in from the start to the end. Emezi did an amazing job with weaving tension through the magical realism. I didn't read any information on this book before reading it, so I was quite surprised at the arrival of Pet.

Jam is a selective-speaking 16 year old that has grown up in a utopia where people are allowed to be with who they want to be with and are able to decide who they are without any push-back. Jam was born as a boy and at a young age got fed up with being called a boy and finally expressed it to her parents and they were able to easily work with doctors to figure out options and how to go about everything. I really appreciated having a book with a trans main character where the focus of the book was NOT on their coming out so we were able to see Jam just being herself.

The overarching theme of humans having the innate ability of being horrible no matter how perfect the world is running, and that even angels can harbor dangerous secrets. Also a reminder that people really should trust kids when they come to you with issues and not try to brush it off. Really good read and definitely recommend it.

The subject matter in this book is very heavy. It takes place in both the present and the past and follows the generation of the main characters. I really enjoyed the perspectives that came from the fig tree. It threw me off a bit, but the narration for her was lovely and really gave a connection to how humans can affect nature.

Defne and Kostas are in a hidden relationship due to being on opposing sides of the Cyprus conflict. I really appreciated that Shafak wrote about this topic (even if it was a background force that affected the characters and sent them on their paths). I wanted to learn a little more about the actual conflict and found out that it's an ongoing conflict that has not been resolved to this day, so I definitely appreciate that it was brought to light for the readers.

There is a lot of death, both in nature and humans, and a character succumbs to suicide after a long fight with depression. It's not a favorite for me, and that was because the ending twist was a little odd for me and I just didn't care for it. I can see why some would like it, but I am not one of them haha. I'm glad that I read it, though, and if you're up for a book that has very little humor through a heavy subject, then I would recommend this one.

First off, I have never seen Blade Runner, so that movie had no impact on my feelings for this book.

I was sucked into this book from the very start. Animals are basically extinct and farmers are usually having to resort to buying robotic versions of the animals to be able to still produce goods. People are using computers to program them to feel specific ways (you can even make yourself feel depressed for whatever reason). The world building was really well done and for the first half of the book I was very into it all.

Then it just kind of lost me. It starts to show its age when it comes to discussing or referencing any of the female characters. We are told all about their breasts and there's even the old school jolly of having sex with a robot.

I know that issues like this are inherent in older books, but I still don't like to give it a pass. Maybe if I had read this book 10+ years ago, I would have felt differently and still found it enjoyable upon rereads at this time. I think that I've read enough newer sci-fi books that don't have these issues in them and it's just really made me up my standards for what I find tolerable in older books.

It was still a good read, but I had to knock it down one star due to the outdated issues.

This series is about as B movie as you can get, and I LOVE it. This series has just been an entirely guilty read that gives enough tension and gore to keep things trucking along. And that's saying a bit since in this one, Megs are not the only prehistoric beasts to be haunting the deep seas. We're talking magical Liopleurodons, Charlie!

You cannot take these books seriously at all. Alten does a good job of trying to fluff up some science terms and all to make it sound more plausible, but you really have to suspend reality to actually enjoy these. If that's not something you find fun when reading, then this series should legitimately be a hard pass for you.

There's 3 more books in the series and then the prequel, so I'm going to be trying to finish out all of them before the end of 2025. We'll see how that goes haha.

I get why people hate this one, but I found it a fun read. Yes, the FMC has a LOT of flaws and issues that make everyone super upset, but as someone that has mental health issues, I can fully understand where the doubt comes into play for Charlie. The gaslighting through this book is insane.

For the record, I am not one that reads thrillers and mysteries with the intent of trying to figure out the twists or anything. I like to dumbly follow along with the MC and be surprised by the twists. That's why I enjoy a McFadden book as well. They're like comfort reads almost because I don't feel a need to dissect them in any way, shape, or form. These are quick reads that I can get sucked into and just enjoy the ride for.

The only real irk that I had with it is the "movies" that play over real life for Charlie and then just poof and vanish away and she's suddenly back in real life. I understand that it's a big part of the plot because she can't tell what's real and what's not and it places the doubt in her mind. But I feel like there could have been better ways to do that.

Can't really say that I would recommend this to anyone else, because the general consensus is that this is a horrendous book, but I still found it fun.

Adele has held one of the coveted popular rich school spots in her school circle. Until she is suddenly kicked out and replaced with someone else. She winds up bunking with one of the poor girls in a creepy dorm that has been reported to be haunted.

She has a hard time adjusting to her lower status and focuses on how to get it back over adjusting to her new roommate. This was a girl that Adele would have bullied and talked bad about with her old group. And her mom has always been telling her that she should be nice to the poor girls, but she never explains why.

This is a lovely book about someone being thrown from grace and coming to terms with how nasty of a person you have to be to keep that status. Adele grows a lot and for being a YA book, there's some decently heavy topics that are covered.

The overall intent of this book was to re-humanize the victims of Jack the Ripper. This was definitely needed since the victims have been completely overshadowed with our obsession with the Ripper himself. Rubenhold does succeed in a sense with this attempt, but the biggest issue is that there's still far too many gaps that are attempted to be filled in with (educated) guesses. It is clarified when something is assumed and not fact, but it takes away from the initial claim of the book.

Rubenhold starts off stating that the victims were not prostitutes and deserve to have their honor cleared up. But the reality is that almost all were prostitutes at some point, but they were not believed to have been prostitutes when their lives were taken from them. There is a heavy emphasis on how skewed the mentalities were towards women during the time frame, and a lot of the romanticizing of that era is quickly pushed aside due to the stark honesty of what women were treated like.

It's an important conversation to have and I'm glad that Rubenhold gave it her best attempt. Sadly, there's just no way to clear up any of the gaps without making assumptions.