Alice in Waterdeep

This book was such a lovely surprise. I read the first half while on the train and was disappointed I had to get off and couldn't keep reading right away! It is a charming, sweet and slightly magical read. I liked both protagonists, though Zhi Lan really won my heart (and Master Dan! What a nice guy). The writing is quite simple and straight to the point which, honestly, I enjoyed. The pacing is also quite good, no scenes drag and there are no weird stalling ploys, if anything I'd say things happen a tad too fast.

I'm not a fan of how the resolution happens behind the scenes thanks to a secondary character and the protagonists are suddenly free from all sorts of consequences. But it doesn't bother me too much in the grand scheme of things.

Honestly one of my favourites in the series! I loved it. Witnessing Murderbot let Tula cling to him made me feel all the emotions, and Murderbot half mentoring Three and getting frustrated with it was so good to see. 5+ read!

It was a good read (well, listen) but nothing exceptional in my opinion. The mystery was intriguing but the entire middle portion of the story was slow and boring, and oftentimes just involved two characters talking to each other about the mystery. It picked up again when Mengele tricked Liebermann but I found the confrontation very unsatisfying, and then the book was over.

I was very disappointed by this novella. It started out quite intriguing but it didn't take too long for it to become very... "meh". I'm not sure how else to express it. The story throws all the Weird Things at the wall to supposedly create a sense of mystery, but I didn't find this mysterious at all (I am personally a bit tired of the trite "mystery" being "husband abuses wife, read more to find out exactly how!"), and I really dislike it when there's little to no payoff for all the weirdness.

A biblical retelling, really? That's all this was?

I think this book starts out very strong but loses itself during the end of the second act and beginning of the third. The pacing was a bit strange in my opinion and I got bored after Ellen's death. I liked that us as readers knew what happened the entire time (though boy was it frustrating to see both Ellen and Marion hang out with him) but, because of that, there wasn't much room for surprises and I felt like the finding out took a bit too long. The unexpected moments I enjoyed the most were how he got Dorothy to write the note, how Ellen realised Dorothy was going to get married, and when it was revealed who Ellen's boyfriend was. Though, on this last one, I have to admit listening to the audiobook confused me a bit because I couldn't really tell who was who when male characters spoke.

I was also quite confused by all the words spent on the smelter there at the end, but then I realised what it was for. Good riddance.

I'm glad I went in without knowing anything about this story. If I had known even just a bit about it, I probably wouldn't have read it. This is not my type of book, except... maybe it is? Because I enjoyed it a lot. I think experiencing it in audiobook form played a big role in my enjoyment, Mia Farrow is absolutely brilliant at making each character distinct and memorable.

I wasn't creeped out as much as I was sickened, in fact my disgusted frown has been on my face from around the, um... "dream" scene until the end of the story. When I got to that part I did ask myself why on earth i was reading this book (it's even in my reading journal here on Hardcover, lol), and somehow Guy's comment on it made my stomach revolt way more than the whole dream sequence did. To the people here in the reviews who are saying they're Guy's #1 hater? Sorry but that spot is taken. In fact, the entire top 10 is taken by me. What a disgusting piece of garbage.

It was a bit of a frustrating listen at times, because at one point you know where things are going and you see poor Rosemary trust the wrong people time and time again (not her fault considering the entire building and their mother was in on it, but man did I wish she'd call one of her friends...). I found myself alone in my house frustratingly saying "no don't tell your husband!" to earbuds in my ears :D

I wasn't a fan of the ending to be honest and wished it was different. I was hoping for some sort of consequences but I guess this is not that type of story. I got really attached to Rosemary though, and yes I know she was gullible and a bit of rug but still, poor thing.

Really engaging story, I almost couldn't put it down. Definitely recommend the audiobook as the narrator does a great job portraying the atmosphere during certain key scenes.

I think the ending is quite predictable but I don't see it as a flaw, it's part of the psychological horror. You see it building to that and there's no one coming to save the day. It just happens.

Poor women. I was so mad when Bobby came back from her second honeymoon thing.

I wasn't wowed, but it was a nice story to listen to. Molly is quite a unique character when it comes to female protagonists in murder mysteries. The setting is also quite well built, though I would have preferred to spend more time in the hotel rather than outside.

The mystery was pretty bland in my opinion, the involvement of certain characters was rather obvious and I saw the final twist coming even before the culprit was arrested. Not because I'm super smart, but because the book telegraphs it so clearly. I was however surprised by Molly's involvement in helping the murderer. However I'm not sure I understand why she brought up in court that she had seen someone in the mirror if she had no intention to reveal who.

I was very frustrated with Molly at first watching how obviously she was getting played, but by the end of the book she grew on me. I enjoyed the final chapters and epilogue more than the rest of the book, which made me realise I appreciated the writer's focus on relationships and friendships more than the mystery itself.

I might continue the series in the future when I'm looking for something to listen to. The audiobook narrator is very good.

This one got awfully close to being a DNF, but I'm glad I stuck with it. I think this story has a lot of flaws, yet it was a great journey and I enjoyed it.

Let me start with "the bad": there is little to no world-building in this book. Or rather there is, but nothing is explained, everything is blurry, and I'm still unclear on certain things that happened. I have no idea what I was supposed to picture in my mind, nor how anything in this world is supposed to work. The writing was not easy to follow, perhaps because English is not my native language. It was quite dense and I used the dictionary way more than I would like while reading a book.

But then, reading the letters between the main characters made me understand that the point of this book wasn't really the world or the plot, it was the emotional connection. And that part worked really well for me, so much I stopped caring too much about the weaker points. I loved witnessing the development of a relationship built through correspondence and big feelings expressed through simple words and, occasionally, poetry.

Toward the end of the book I found myself unable to stop reading, and the big feelings took me too. Tears were shed. One detail of the letters I did not love, however, is that the two characters seemed not to have their own way of writing. The authors of the letters felt interchangeable at times, which isn't great, but after sitting a few days with the ending I started wondering if that wasn't on purpose due to what happens to Blue when Red goes back in time to give her poison resistance.

Anyway, though imperfect, it was a beautiful story. I cursed at the ending because I wanted more, what do you mean I cannot know how it ends for Red!?

I enjoyed this book a lot, but the writing often felt slightly off - some characters suddenly launch into exposition; parts of the dialogue feel unnatural; reactions seem underwhelming compared to the events unfolding. I'm not sure how much to attribute to the writing itself versus the translation from German, though.

The plot felt like a typical Fitzek novel, just as I remember: a chain of "no, here's what actually happened" revelations, but well-structured and presented. Unfortunately I guessed the culprit around page 80, but this didn't diminish my enjoyment too much. It allowed me to hunt for clues and red herrings in the right places, making for an interesting journey. I did not, however, guess who The Fisherman was, that one took me completely by surprise.

The final reveal wasn't particularly enjoyable for me due to having guessed it so early, but the way it ends, with Hannah about to go into surgery, knowing she won't remember what happened? Oof.

I feel the book is full of dark content that adds little value to the story. I wish it had been more focused on exploring darkness directly related to the protagonist and her loved ones, rather than adding darkness for darkness's sake, just to meet some imaginary quota of "how disturbing can we make this?". Gustav is one example, though it's now clear to me that Gustav's scene exists to make Telda look like a victim. Which worked on me :D

The characters were alright, but I didn't fall in love with any of them. The most interesting to me was Simone, who didn't get nearly enough page time - in fact, I'm still not sure what her role even was. I think Fitzek wanted us to believe she was The Fisherman. The only character I actively disliked was Blankenthal. I'm not sure what I was supposed to think or feel about him. His constant ping-ponging from "that's enough, I'm going to kill you" to "huh, actually that could be true, please continue" was annoying and created no tension whatsoever.

The pacing was quite good, I was never bored for a second and could barely put the book down. It's not the most captivating book I've ever read, but it definitely kept me engaged.

I wasn't sure what to think of the concurrent double POV at first but, after the initial shock, I'd say it worked. In the acknowledgements, Fitzek explains he was inspired by the TV series 24, which helped me understand what he was going for. I enjoyed it, it would be cool to see him explore this technique a bit more in the future.

This book was a really nice surprise. I was expecting the usual fake dating thing where one of them has real feelings, there's zero communication and the whole thing is misunderstanding after misunderstanding. But that wasn't the case at all. The way the relationship developed felt mostly organic and natural, and these two actually talked to each other... except at the very end, I guess, which annoyed me a bit. But the lack of communication wasn't dragged on too long and was only from one character, and I thought it made enough sense given her history.

Some of the other characters outside of the protagonists were also fun to read about. I loved the friendship between Stella, Layla and Beckett.

It was a good story, but I think I was expecting something more especially due to the hype around it. I understand this is a commentary on the publishing industry, but the story itself fell quite flat for me. I found the emotional journey of the protagonist to be somewhat interesting, the way the guilt was eating at her and how she became more and more unhinged (to the point of considering to commit murder, which to be fair had me surprised - I didn't think she was THAT far gone). However, while I enjoy exploring unlikable characters and usually appreciate their development even when they're just a "bad person", I did not care for June at all, not one bit. The story also had no payoff, which is likely intentional, but I personally found it disappointing.

I adored this book. I wasn't sure about the writing and pacing at first, but it quickly improved. I loved the emotional connection between the two main characters and how their relationship developed; that there was no silly drama, that everything was handled pretty maturely despite the very real individual insecurities and past history.

Aiden's family made me genuinely angry. Sheryl's apology at the end was so half-assed, and I'm fairly sure she only did it to get her husband back, not for Aiden. Good to see Davy wake the f up, though. Maggie's dynamic with her son was also interesting to see explored. Last but definitely not least, the demisexual representation and the way it was handled gave me so, so much joy. There's nothing quite like feeling seen and understood by a book.

My only complaint is that the ending felt rushed and I wish we'd gotten more time with the characters (a sequel would be nice, but I'm not holding out hope), but overall it was a super nice read.

It started out pretty okay, then became mid and, two thirds in, I ended up hating it. The characters are flat. The two main women in this one are basically the same character, and I know the similarities are kind of on purpose but it was way too much. The multi-POV structure is badly executed in my opinion: there's no point in showing me the exact same scene from two different perspectives if it adds nothing of value, if each perspective doesn't reveal something new.

I did not care about the plot at all, especially after a certain character death happened. The so called plot twists were so bland, and they were presented so neutrally that it kind of feels like not even the author fully believed in them. On top of that, I have yet to understand what is the point of having chapters from the detective's point of view as he "investigates" when the reader knows exactly what happened. The detective simply narrates "this happened, then this happened", he doesn't make any crazy connections, barely has any doubts. A waste of time really.

Also, the male characters - police officer included, in fact he was probably the worst - spend half their time talking about the women's bodies in a gross way. I should have DNFed.

I kind of disliked this one. This was my return to Agatha Christie after at least five or six years and it wasn't as glorious as I thought it would be.

I found most characters to be uninteresting and annoying, and I didn't really care what happened to them. When my beloved Poirot showed up I thought here we go, but no. He was barely even around! We didn't get to see him investigate or interview the suspects all that much. I was waiting for his solution to the mystery to raise my rating of the book last minute, but... it did not happen. We didn't even see Poirot solve the mystery. The revelation, if it can even be called that, happened so quickly and felt so shallow. Not a fan :(

I didn't hate it, but it's not for me. I wanted a light read after I read a book that dragged on forever but, as it turns out, it took me almost a month to read this one too? Wow. Not that it's a race, but it says a lot about my engagement with the story.

I am not a fan of misunderstandings that last almost the entire book, even more so when characters are childish for no reason. So I had a hard time with the whole dynamic between Bee and Levi, not to mention the Twitter exchanges - these two brilliant engineers didn't realize they were talking about each other? Not even once? Not even a tiny doubt? Please.

For me, Levi was the most interesting character. We see more of his personality and development through small things rather than Bee's. In fact, dare I say there's no development whatsoever for Bee? I feel like this is becoming a trend with books in this genre I've been reading, but: so much unexplored potential. So much. I think her commitment issues were quite interesting, but of course trauma is magically solved after one act of kindness and suddenly she's not scared anymore. Man do I wish real life worked like that.

I started appreciating the story around the 80% mark when shit started happening, but again: wasted potential. And the resolution floored me, and not in a good way. You're telling me that someone whose intelligence is praised throughout the entire book and who has the cards to be hired at NASA, uses the same simple password for every account she has? I facepalmed so hard my forehead hurt.

Despite all that, and despite not liking the writing, I still somewhat enjoyed reading this, but then the epilogue ruined everything. Flash forward to less than one year later and they're married (also, she eloped to avoid getting paralyzed with fear by the thought of being left at the altar??? Girl that's not how you heal trauma), and of course they mention kids. I know, I understand, I get it - but can we have a happy couple that doesn't need marriage and babies to prove they're now very much in love and "complete"? I'm begging.

This one wasn't my favorite: admittedly, some parts felt a bit boring and I struggled to focus and not get distracted while listening to the audiobook. But I loved it regardless and it's 5 stars because I freaking love Murderbot, though I think Network Effect still holds the crown. Seeing Murderbot deal with trauma was so heartbreaking and relatable.

As someone who struggles with focusing on audiobooks, I was terrified by the length of this one compared to the other books in the series. But it was great, I was hooked from the beginning, the hours simply flew by and I found myself frustrated when I didn't have time to listen on a given day.

This one made me feel many emotions ("ugh", as Murderbot would say) and it might just be my favorite in the series so far. I loved all the characters, loved ART, Murderbot's development and those closing thoughts about how change is terrifying. Beautiful. I will have to experience it again in book form at some point.

I had a really hard time getting through this book. Part of it was my fault because I watched the movie first, so I knew what was going to happen. But another part of it was that this book is, in my opinion, too slow and dull. I feel like it's way longer than it needed to be.

I don't agree with the take that circumstances and people like Dr. Gaul are what caused Snow to go down a dark path. He is opportunistic, selfish and self-serving from the very beginning, and he simply indulges his worst instincts one convenient rationalization after another. The way he incriminates Sejanus is just pure manipulation. Snow is someone who's just patiently waiting to be given enough power to show his true colors with no repercussions.

I have to say I am extremely glad the author didn't try to write a story that makes you sympathize with him and justify his actions. Thank goodness that wasn't the case.

A little note: if I hear "Snow lands on top" one more time...

Murderbot AND a murder investigation? Right up my alley. This felt a bit different from the other books in the series so far (I read this one before Network Effect as I want to follow the chronological order), definitely less action packed - but I loved it. It was a really fun and quick read (well, listen).

This was SO. GOOD. Loved to see the crew back together again, and Murderbot's character development throughout the previous three books definitely paid off in this one. I had a blast watching it reconnect with its previous clients and seeing it accidentally spit out things such as "It made me feel like a person". Hope it forgets to set that one second delay to its mouth.

I got so worried at the end there, thinking Murderbot would be erased or partially erased and we'd get a blank slate in the following book. Really glad that wasn't the case, I loved that ending.

"I was having an emotion, and I hate that. I’d rather have nice safe emotions about shows on the entertainment media."

I feel you Murderbot, I feel you.

This book left me with mixed feelings. I kind of feel like this book is categorized in the wrong genre, as the romance is more of a subplot. That's not inherently a bad thing as far as I'm concerned but it does mean you go into this book expecting one thing and getting a different thing.

I had a hard time liking Alice, she felt like such a boring stereotype for the majority of the book, though she did warm up to me at some point. Hayden, instead, must be one of the flattest characters I've ever seen. I simply did not care about him, so much that when the twist was revealed, I cared but from Margaret's point of view. Not Hayden's. And judging by his reaction, he himself didn't care much either. Can't blame him much, because it was a ridiculous twist. I think this would have worked a lot better had the author included Hayden's POV during his work with Margaret.

I was way more invested in Margaret's story than in Alice's. It was interesting and heartbreaking at times to see how an entire family was shaped by being in the public eye, harassed by the media, and by every person's own flaws and shortcomings.

The romance: I was not invested, did not care, didn't enjoy how it was built. First, these two barely talked to one another, it was just cringe-worthy physical interaction after cringe-worthy physical interaction. Second, the whole "we can't have sex until the job is over" thing is such a lame way to create drama. Not only was it stated over and over, not only did it end up being ridiculous because they were always doing *something* but "hey it doesn't count because that's not sex" (semantics, if you ask me), but then they also... waived this little rule of theirs like two days before the job was over?? With no conversation about it either. And then I was supposed to believe these two fell in deep sacred love in like three weeks and they both gave the job up and he decided to move wherever she wanted and ?? Not a fan.

I know it might sound like I hated it, I didn't, and to be fair some parts of the epilogue made me emotional. However, I can't help but feel that there was a lot of wasted potential. The book ends with Alice starting to write her family's story for her daughter, inspired by Margaret. The point is, I don't feel like I've seen much of Alice as a writer to care as much as the author wants me to care. Or of her family. There's a few interesting glimpses we get here and there, and the two scenes with her mother; I just wish it was explored more alongside Margaret's story. Heck, I wish Hayden was explored more, but the two were too busy having not sex.

All in all it was a nice read, the frustration comes from how much potential was left unexplored. It was fun to read this at the same time as my sister and have our own two-people book club.

Probably my favorite in the series so far. I went back and forth between 5 and 4.5 stars but settled on the latter mostly because most of the humans felt like the same character with a different name, and I had a hard time remembering who was who (though that's likely a me problem with audiobooks). Both book 2 and 3 have made me care waaay more about the bots than the humans, which is probably intended.

I am loving the subtle yet consistent character development for Murderbot. In book 1 it started as literally unable to look at humans while now it's got this protective instinct despite its best efforts not to care one bit.

Also, Miki! Oh god, that was so sad. Oh, and we're going back to Mensah now??

I loved this one. The interactions between ART and Murderbot were my favorite parts. The dramatized version of the audiobook really sells it for me, it's too good!

I have mixed feelings about this book. The first half felt definitely stronger than the second. First off, there is very little brain science in this one, if anything. I am also wary of books and authors that tell you there is one way and one way only to do things correctly, and that "real writers would never do xyz". But I simply ignored all that stuff and tried to focus on what felt useful to me.

That said, the method presented in this book resonated very well with me. It's not too far off from what I was already doing, but it allowed me to bring in more structure and understanding to my writing process. Funnily enough, whenever I didn't feel like doing one of the exercises the author suggests - either because I was tired, or because I didn't think it would actually matter to this silly, little, definitely not serious thing I'm writing - I pushed myself to do them and surprise, surprise: they turned out to be very useful. They forced me to reconsider some aspects and also allowed me to see connections I was blind to before.

Unfortunately my biggest pain point with this book is the case study the author uses throughout the entire book to showcase her method at work. No shame to the novelist who agreed to lay bare her early thought process for her novel but, while initially the development of that story sounded worth paying attention to, I'm under the impression that in order to follow Lisa Cron's method the story took weirder and weirder turns. And while seeing how a writer applies the method to her own writing is quite interesting, the last 20% of this book is basically only focused on that, and by that point I didn't care - the story was not compelling, not relatable, it really just felt very weird.

The author also ends up reiterating the same concepts over and over. While repetita iuvant for sure, at some point it felt less like a way to drill the concepts into the reader's brain and more as a way to dilute the word count (and yeah, I think this book is way too long for what it actually does).

All in all, there are really good insights in this book and I'm glad to have read it as it sparked a lot of thoughts for my writing. I won't be taking this method as a religion but I've definitely found several valuable tools I enjoy.