Asta

A good thriller, but somewhat lacking on the aspect of how it walks about mental health. I feel like that's a theme in McFadden's books, unfortunately.

An okay book. Didn't really hook me at any point, and I'm not really sure if it gave me anything at all, other than frustration at the stupid protagonist.

Just painfully cringe, the more McFadden I read the less I want to read them.

WTF, this book was pure anxiety. Toxic masculinity, racism, gaslighting, references to the ADHD-“craze” of the 90s, with hardly any actual vampire action. I think there was an effort to be like Dracula?

I think I would've given this a higher rating without Goldman's annotations, or if he'd actually worked on the story rather than the legend around it. It's unique, sure, but it didn't really endear me to the story more. Maybe if he'd just had less annotating in between the actual action of the book I would've liked it more?

Hard to say.

The Princess Bride has been one of my favourite movies for a long time, and the actual story in the book is on level with it. I do wish there was less sexism, but I guess that's the 70s for you...

The “first chapter” of Buttercup's Baby felt like Goldman had had bits in his story that he didn't quite know what to do with, and this was the result.

Somehow I did not realise this was about the Norse Gods again, which do not interest me at all.

This was a bit painful. The premise is interesting but the writing and characters are so flat it took all the joy out of the experience. I felt zero for any of the characters, least of all for the main character. Eyes were rolled. many times.

Well that was as subtle as a brick in the face and fatphobic to boot. DNF @ 14%

A refreshingly different kind of heroine who didn't find out the truth because she was witty, but because she had friends who she could trust.

Surprisingly wholesome for a murder mystery with a bullied mc, I look forward to listening to the next story about Molly the Maid.

A murder mystery that's told in layers of past and present. Kept me entertained enough, but I wasn't invested in the least. The ending dragged too long, going into “possible part 2” -scenario which I really wish the author had skipped. 

I was going to go for three stars, just because the dog stayed alive. Then she went and killed the dog.

Pacing was not good, the mystery wasn't all that mysterious and the epilogue was just cheesy. Oh, and there's a “just for fun” rape scene. How edgy.

I wanted to give this book the “just okay” three stars it deserves for the way it handled mental health, but I was constantly thrown off by having to wonder about how the anatomy works, unbelievable scenes (not in a good way) and the cringe of already old popular media references that I had to remove half a star. (Seriously, I'm pretty sure a lot of those references were old even before the book came out)

I'm feeling generous cause I didn't drop a whole one.

Also, what's up with the constant vomit?!

I'm just not interested enough to continue. Second time trying this, gonna call it a Not For Me.

Honestly not the best book in the series, but it's Murderbot so it's a 5 stars.

I have a feeling this just doesn't work as an audiobook.

Listened to three stories but failed to see the point of two of them. Simply not interesting enough.

I was very frustrated with Charlie the whole time, but it just took the biscuit when she was literally offered help by a stranger but turned it down because “she didn't want to get anyone else into trouble”.  She's constantly contradicting herself for the advancement of the plot. 🙄

I've read three different series from Harris, and based on the first part Lily Bard doesn't really stand out. She has the same ridiculous fixation of body hair and constant judgement of other women as Sookie does.

Describing poc by what shade of food/drink their skin was was pretty cringe, and I felt it striking that the first black person mentioned was a trash collector. Yikes. I'll give it some slack since the first publishing was in 1996, but it sure has not aged well.

Not sure if I'm interested to read more, the mystery wasn't that great, although I appreciate that the reader had all the same details as the character did! The chief of police really gave Lily way too much leeway to seem legit.

This one managed to completely surprise me! I fell for the red herrings and did not expect that ending.

Painfully awkward, lack of any chemistry between the pair I'm supposed to root for... Just no.

After reading the first two books in quick succession this just didn't hit the spot anymore. I'll give it another shot later!

7 stars.

Until about halfway I found the story quite enthralling, but then came the downfall and the eventual confusion at the abrupt ending: What the heck was the point of this. 

This was the most boring thing I've ever forced myself to finish, and had it not be an audiobook I dont think I would've managed. I appreciate the vampire mythology and was interested to ponder on how it's changed over the years.

Van Helsing is such an overrated character.

Never read/listened to anything by Hazelwood before, and based on this I won't in the future either. The MC is so childish I want to cringe every five minutes and the scenes are way too prolonged with side notes.