Tag: 3 stars

Enjoyable reads. Maybe they had a predictable plot or the characters weren’t entirely three-dimensional, but I had fun while they lasted.

How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie

AuroraLeave a comment

Title: How to Kill Your Family
Author: Bella Mackie
Format: Audiobook
Genre(s): Fiction, Dark comedy, Thriller
Rating: ★★★☆☆

This was a book club read — not at all in my usual genres — and I found myself torn between being incredibly entertained and immensely frustrated by it.

I was sucked in by the structure, watching each murder with a sense of satisfaction as an intelligent but damaged woman, Grace, patiently offed each rich, entitled, insulated member of her birth family. I enjoyed the pieces of backstory interspersed throughout, even as it revealed Grace’s seriously unhealthy perspective on interpersonal relationships.

But I got stuck on the twist at the end, which broke the narrative flow and also relied on Grace doing something that felt very out of alignment with her care and meticulous planning earlier in the story. It was a brilliant portrayal of the power of wealth and patriarchy but left me feeling bereft — although I imagine that was intentional, and so I still have a fair amount of respect for Mackie’s storytelling.

Wayward Pines trilogy by Blake Crouch

AuroraLeave a comment

Title: Wayward Pines trilogy (Pines, Wayward, and The Last Town)
Author: Blake Crouch
Format: ebook
Genre(s): Science Fiction, Thriller
Rating: ★★★☆☆

I picked up this trilogy on my sibling’s recommendation, with the context that the author wrote it as a sort of homage to Twin Peaks. It’s hard to discuss any detail about the trilogy without major spoilers, so in terms of content I’ll only say that I had a very enjoyable time being confused by what was going on and was honestly surprised (in a good way) by the reveals.

That said, the mystery is mostly unveiled in the first book, and by the third book everything is essentially already known — leading to a primarily action story as you see how things play out. The cinematic writing style makes the action enjoyable and the books are overall easy to read, but if your main concern is figuring out what’s going on you can probably stop after the first book. Although I was a bit frustrated at the very end with the main character’s decisions (in particular, a decision that seemed to run counter to the story’s point), in general I thought the author did a good job creating a dystopian setting and exploring how the main character worked through it, with all his flaws and limitations.

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs

AuroraLeave a comment

Title: Ink Blood Sister Scribe
Author: Emma Törzs
Format: ebook (ARC)
Genre(s): Fantasy
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Törzs’s debut shows real promise as she introduces a fascinating world of book magic, three unique central characters, and realistic, conflicted relationships in which well-meaning people who care about each other still struggle to find the right way forward.

I love the intricacies of the magic in the story, and how the magic ties in to the conflicts between the characters — especially the complicated family relationships that Joanna, Esther, and Nicholas grapple with as they try to understand and deal with what’s happening around them. The book doesn’t entirely work for me, though: It has uneven pacing (taking about 20% of the book to really get moving and veering into extensive backstory just at the climax near the end), at least one obvious magical inconsistency, and leaves me more invested in Nicholas than the two title sisters. I also wasn’t too surprised by the way things played out, including the motivations for various characters’ actions that were revealed and explained at the end.

That said, I’m willing to forgive a debut novel for issues like pacing when it can deliver such interesting world building, believable relationships, and a magical system that feels new, and I look forward to how Törzs develops her storytelling in future books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Cornerstone (Penguin Random House) for providing an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Ink Blood Sister Scribe comes out on July 6, 2023.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

AuroraLeave a comment

Title: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Format: ebook
Genre(s): Fiction
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Have you ever read a book that, when you finished it, made you wonder if the author was so brilliant that they made you empathize with the main characters while also deeply disliking them, or if the disliking was unintentional and it wasn’t meant to make you so upset? That’s how I felt about Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow — particularly in the way that Sadie and Sam both felt like very plausible characters, but I wanted to throttle them both.

This is a story about friendship and relationships, set in the context of the game industry and all of its horrors, from the competitiveness to the sexism to the commercialization. Sadie and Sam’s friendship (if you believe it is actually friendship) revolves around gaming, but throughout the book they clash over their games and consistently fail to care for and empathize with each other (thus my doubt that the story represents a true friendship). If that were the entirety of the story I’d probably rate it lower, but there’s a chapter about 2/3 of the way in (the NPC chapter) that blew me away, and I was left thinking that perhaps the greatest value in this book is the evolving pain, hollowness, and grief threaded throughout.

The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb

AuroraLeave a comment

Title: The Violin Conspiracy
Author: Brendan Slocumb
Format: ebook
Genre(s): Literary fiction, Crime, Mystery
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Slocumb begins this novel with the theft of Ray McMillian’s $10 million Stradivarius violin, but we are quickly taken back to his past: we see how he comes into his own as a Black violinist in the highly competitive (and racist) world of classical music, and the people who help and hinder him — including as he tries to recover his violin in time for a prestigious competition.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room: This is not a great mystery (I correctly identified who stole the violin when they first appeared in the narrative), and I wouldn’t recommend reading it if the primary draw for you is the whodunnit. That said, I was very drawn to Ray’s origin story and the challenges he faced. Although many of the characters seemed like sketches or foils for Ray’s personal journey, it was still meaningful to see him grapple with things like imposter syndrome, family conflict, relationships, and of course racism.

It was even more powerful to learn, in the author’s note, that many of Ray’s experiences come from Slocumb’s own life; despite the weaknesses of the mystery plot, this book offers a moving fictional account of the very real struggles one can face both as a Black classical musician and as a Black man in America and abroad.

The Violin Conspiracy is part of the Tournament of Books, a sort of March Madness for 16 books from the previous year. If this sounds like an interesting event to you, I’d recommend checking out the list and trying at least one or two books that catch your eye!

The Locked-Away Life by Drew Davies

AuroraLeave a comment

Title: The Locked-Away Life
Author: Drew Davies
Format: Audiobook
Genre(s): Fiction
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Over the past few weeks I have been listening to the story of Esther, an older woman living alone and away from society in her large house, and Bruno, a young man she hires to teach her how to use the internet.

It’s a story that manages to be heartwarming without getting saccharine: Esther is lively and sharp-witted while Bruno is caring but guarded, and the two build a friendship as they spend time together during their lessons. Both characters have a bit of mystery and hurt that they need to work through, and my main critique is that I don’t feel either of their stories is paced or played out in an entirely satisfying way. For Esther’s part, we repeatedly hear snippets of her past that we can piece together, but it all happens so piecemeal that as a result her growth and resolution also feels a bit uneven and incomplete; Bruno, on the other hand, has a gutting experience that plays out strikingly on the page, but the aftermath feels a bit rushed — summarized more than experienced — and wraps up faster than I’d like.

All in all, this is an enjoyable book (and wonderfully narrated as an audiobook!) that’s recommended if you’re looking for a story of human connection, love, and support from seemingly unlikely friends.

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske

AuroraLeave a comment

Title: A Restless Truth
Author: Freya Marske
Format: ebook
Genre(s): Romance, Historical, Fantasy
Rating: ★★★☆☆

This is the sequel to A Marvellous Light, following Maud Blythe as she tries to solve a magical murder mystery while traveling on a ship back to England from New York — it is, as Marske calls it, “a bubbly Wodehousian romp.”

Unfortunately, the first book didn’t set me up for this one to be a romp, and I found myself jarred by the change in tone as well as the lack of intimacy-building between Maud and Violet, a striking actress who Maud recognizes from Robin’s earlier visions about the journey. The romance storyline is mainly about Maud’s self-discovery as she is captivated by Violet, whereas Violet plays the fairly predictable part of the more worldly, guarded flirt, creating a frustratingly insurmountable emotional distance between the two (although that does come across as more realistic in the end than a whirlwind romance). The magic/mystery storyline also fell flat for me, not offering enough new substance about magic and magical society aside from the revelation about Maud, and exasperating me when they make an enormous and completely avoidable blunder as the crisis is coming to a head.

The word that most describes this book for me is claustrophobic: I felt stuck on the ship, wishing for the end of the journey and a change in cast or setting, and ultimately left hoping that the next installment (perhaps following Alan Ross and Lord Hawthorn, who I loved seeing more sides of, although I’d be thrilled to get more of Adelaide Morrissey) will bring a breath of fresh air and some added depth to the series.

The Holiday Trap by Roan Parrish

AuroraLeave a comment

Title: The Holiday Trap
Author: Roan Parrish
Format: ebook
Genre(s): Romance
Rating: ★★★☆☆

This is a cute rom-com that’s essentially a queer version of The Holiday: Greta in Maine and Truman in New Orleans are both in need of a change; when a mutual friend encourages them to swap houses around the holidays, they both find an opportunity for love and new adventures.

I finished this book with all the warm fuzzies I’d expect from a romantic comedy, mostly driven by Truman and Ash’s adorable storyline and their respective insecurities and challenges. I felt less connected to Greta and Carys’s story, possibly because the conflict and growth mostly happened on Greta’s end whereas Carys’s growth was part of her backstory rather than on the page. I also found the sheer number of side characters challenging — I was surprised and disappointed that some of them (including characters who had close relationships with the main characters as well as others who felt like fully fleshed-out personalities) appeared only once or twice, but I also can’t imagine weaving them into the story more fully while also juggling both storylines.

If you don’t mind some slightly heavier topics alongside the fluff (heads up that there is family conflict and past cheating), I’d recommend this as a fun escape from real-life stress for a quick weekend or holiday read.

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

AuroraLeave a comment

Title: A Deadly Education
Author: Naomi Novik
Format: ebook
Genre(s): Fantasy
Rating: ★★★☆☆

While reading this book, I couldn’t stop thinking about the parallels to Cassandra Clare and Holly Black’s Magisterium series:

  • A boarding school where students have to prove themselves capable of great feats of magic to graduate;
  • a main character who wields dark magic and is prophesied to do great evil;
  • the main character’s best friend who is a golden child and viewed as the hero;
  • a developing group of friends/allies so the main character isn’t alone and has some reinforcement around their desire to stay good.

I don’t mean to say that this book felt cribbed; Novik brought a darker, more mature perspective to her story, with a different plot, a more dangerous world, and a clear message about inequality. I appreciated how the main character, Galadriel, had to navigate systemic bias and decide how to interact with students who were unaware of their own privilege. I also enjoyed seeing Galadriel’s friendships develop — and how naturally those friendships arose from her fair and respectful, albeit prickly, interactions with her peers — although I had trouble understanding how Orion had managed to get by so long being so incredibly dumb.

But in the end, whether it was the similarities to other books about coming of age in a magic school or my own fatigue around young adult fiction, I just couldn’t get excited enough about this story to continue the series.

The Forgotten Promise by Paula Greenlees

AuroraLeave a comment

Title: The Forgotten Promise
Author: Paula Greenlees
Format: ebook (ARC)
Genre(s): Historical
Rating: ★★★☆☆

I was very drawn in by the premise of this book: Best friends Ella and Noor make a promise to always be close, but as they grow up they are separated by class and then further by World War II arriving to Malaysia (then British Malaya), as Ella flees with her son to England while her husband puts their daughter into Noor’s care. Sadly, just as Ella and Noor had trouble keeping their promise to each other, I felt that the story had trouble delivering on the promises it made to me.

It felt like almost everyone in the story was, to some extent, just a sketch or a stand-in for anyone who might find themselves in that particular situation, defined primarily by their backgrounds, hobbies, or jobs rather than unique character traits. I was thoroughly captivated by the history, and Greenlees made me care and even do further research about the people and events in Malaysia before, during, and after the war— if you are primarily interested in seeing depictions of what it may have been like for people and especially women at the time, this book really delivers. It also kept me curious about what would happen, but as it wrapped up, I was disappointed by how little Noor appeared on the page and how little I felt about how Ella’s story ended.

Thank you to NetGalley and Cornerstone (Penguin Random House) for providing an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. The Forgotten Promise comes out on December 29, 2022.