Gee

While I miss Hastings as the narrator and I found Leatheran a bit annoying at times, this was an overall good and engaging mystery. There was a good enough fleshing out of characters and their personalities. The red herrings were good and not bonkers wild. Poirot's bit at the end felt longer than usual (or I've read enough of these that they keep on getting longer for me) and it's both suspenseful and annoying.

This was a fun adventure that combines beloved characters from favorite classics and even some events from history. Creative and entertaining, all the characters are lovable and just what I needed after reading a lot of dark books in previous weeks. A little bit of a let down on the mystery part for me, when it was uncovered, but wasn't a major let down and I could forgive it because this is just book 1. Found family of Victorian monster girls for the win!

The need to protect and follow wherever Rosier goes is real. As much as I understand the fuckery that is Asmodeus, Rosier is to good for him.

Beautifully written as Angels Before Man. Also horrifying. It did capture trauma well though.

I get loneliness can make you do crazy things and I get what the book is trying to do. I am just annoyed at both characters.

‘All I ever wanted was to be loved, and now you’ve shown me that to be loved is to be broken. What is inside me?’

I started with the loaning the audiobook but 10% in I figured this was better read, rather than listened. And I instantly bought the Kindle edition.

Beautiful writing. Lucifer's birth, coming-of-age, and eventual corruption were also beautifully depicted. Great characterizations for everyone. Loved Rosier in this. Already bought Horns for Hell for Rosier (I'm not getting my hopes up based from the things I've seen), so this is definitely the first of many works that I'll read by the author.

This is more than just about the rape kit. It's about the flaws in the system and the misogyny that seemingly never stops from people from the top, even until the present. It's also about women's' perseverance in fighting for what they believe in (the author - in my making sure that the right person is credited and made known for the advancement in forensic technology, Marty Goddard - in making the rape kit in the first place and forgoing acknowledgement to make sure it gets introduced, and the other women mentioned in the book who tried to make changes to better help the victims).

Things I liked: The setting: Fantasy-based Vietnam where women hold power? Of course that would be a hook.

Things I didn't like: E...everything else

Sometimes I say that 100 pages isn't enough because I usually want more of the story. This isn't the case for this book. Everything felt rushed. I don't feel particularly attached to Thanh so therefore I'm not exactly rooting for her. Her character felt bland and even annoying at times. Having more of a background on her and her experiences might have changed things. The healthy romance in this didn't really make sense and, boy, that was fast. And the toxic romance was kinda highlighted more

This was a heavy read. Lots of triggers, but still an important read.

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I first learned about 8 Passengers after listening to the neighbor's 911 call when one of the kids got out. Hearing the neighbor's voice cracking was heartbreaking. To think that this man had more empathy than their own mother was just too much. I followed a few Youtube videos covering the case and then opted to read Shari Franke's book. I'm glad I did. There's a lot of blame laid upon Kevin. And while, yes, he was supposed to protect his kids, the book gives a more complicated point of view on this as he, too, was very much a victim of abuse from both Ruby and Jodi.

The first few chapters with just Ruby's control was already hard to listen to. But it becomes more unbearable and frustrating when Jodi came in. Then an opportunist like Derek comes along. The grooming part was one of the worst experiences in the book, and that's saying a lot.

I'm glad Shari was able to get out of it and is able to start healing. This was all too much for one person to experience.

This was a good mystery. Complex but believable enough. Miss Marple is always a darling and I did like the Bantrys.

I would have to say that the prejudice against lower classes was a bit annoying though. How the detectives viewed the two 'different' victims were annoying. But overall, still a good read.

I took my time on this because Alloy of Law didn't stick with me as much as I wanted to. But this overall exceeded my expectations.

The twist and turns could rival any thriller book. And always appreciate the details that make you go back to Era 1.

Anything Robin Wall Kimmerer writes and narrates is an auto-read and listen for me. This was short but sweet, a great essay on what the world needs right now. A tad bit idealistic in the current climate but you cannot deny the impact it will have even on a small scale.

I started this with high expectations as I've loved Eliza Victoria's other works. Unfortunately, this was not for me. It was obvious this was an early work from the writing style. The pacing was off, the mystery had build up but the reveal was anticlimactic. Other than the victim, you couldn't really feel anything for the characters and so it was hard to connect with them/care what happens. The background seemed haphazardly strewn in there with the mystery. I get what the author was trying to do, but the execution did not do it for me.

I started this (and actually put this off for a while now) with low expectations after reading a few other similar books tackling depression. The others I read shrugged off therapy, did not tackle anything about medicine and came from a very privileged background.

But I'm glad I was wrong about The Hilarious World of Depression (and this also comes a tinge of regret for not starting on this sooner). This was none of those. It didn't tiptoe around the topic of suicide but faced it head on. I appreciate that the author shared mostly the downs and neutrals of depression. It also shared the experiences of other people, mostly guests from his podcast (I wasn't aware of this podcast until I started this). This was a very relatable and I liked that it does not shy away from what normies would call dark humor.

I know that this book was around 20 years in the making, as Ann Rule says so herself, and it could have had more details about the perpetrator. But I appreciate the effort into writing a huge chunk of this focused on the victims themselves--the details about their lives and their backgrounds. It did go a bit too detailed into the other Green River Killer suspects, and I found that unnecessary, but this was still a good read.

The Corner that held Them is reminiscent of Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth and Edward Rutherford's London, but centered in a convent. An interesting take on a perspective of Medieval England. It's a "no specific plot, just medieval vibes and marxism". Great read.

I am in the minority on this but I found this boring.

I tried to like it because, on paper, it does sound like something up my alley. But, I don't know, this might have been too hyped and I just had too much expectations for something this short. I think I didn't like the overall story was executed, and to be fair, it is difficult to write a story where the character is very much self aware but everything was just too obvious to me.

"It is time to recognize the Palestinian national movement as an anticolonialist movement. In the global south and among many sections of civil society in the global north, this image of the Palestinian liberation movement as a terrorist organization is no longer acceptable. But without full global recognition of the Palestinians' right to wage a liberation struggle, the bloodshed in Israel and Palestine will continue."

3.5 out of 5 stars

Trigger warnings (not spoiler): rpe/sxual abuse (moderate) and dr*g abuse (minor)

I grew up watching the TV series Midsomer Murders so I can't help but to compare the TV adaptation to the books every time I read this. With that said, this one I'd say the book may be more memorable than the adaptation–even if I think this book should be shorter than it should be.

Some things I did like: solid mystery, enough that you would not stop until you get to the end even if there's a lot of it that's a chore to read through. Good enough amount of red herrings and misdirection. The epilogue was a nice touch too. While I don't exactly like all the characters, majority (if not all) were really well written and were fleshed out nicely.

Some things I absolutely disliked: flowery words and possibly 100 pages worth of things, I think, could be omitted and you would still get the story. I don't remember if the first two books had so much flowery words but this was too much that it could have used the Hemingway treatment. There were so many characters introduced that I really didn't care for a lot of them. Some, the epilogue did justice, but there were about 4 characters that were fleshed out too much that it was unnecessary. I'd rather have the main person who died have this much character background, as his character looked more interesting.

I don't know what's worse, Yuuma or youtuber apologies.

"We know how to live in a world without tuberculosis, but we choose not to live in it."

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“Why should we move mountains to save one patient? Because he is one person. A person, you understand? And anyway, what if he can be the first of many?”

4.5 out of 5 stars

I was intrigued by Hannibal after learning the bonkers way he led his army of men and elephants through the Alps and how he tried to fight Rome, of all things. This was a great overview of his life and times (I say overview because I know it could still be longer and there are still some details that were not covered).

Short, sad, and beautifully written. More about grief and connecting with the world but with the backdrop of a hint of sporror (it's not really seen as horror though).

4.5 out of 5 stars

The narration oozes excitement that I wished the narrator taught my high school physics class. Lots of interesting things packed into this short audiobook. Great listen overall.

3.75 out of 5 stars

This was fun and helped with my reading slump. A definite feel-good read but it was too short.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Did not expect to read about known Filipino groups in a Sanderson book. Great concept, but this one was too short to cover some questions that some of the details raised (I know it continues in other books so let's see).

Not a fan of the all-dialogue writing style tho.