Carina

This was just such a sweet little book. It starts off a little slow and unassuming with some lovable characters, but some ways in, the author gives you a nice little gut check and you won’t be able to put it down!!! I wasn’t sure where it would land for me, but it was so charming and heart warming that it ended up on my 5 star list !! If you love cozy, feel-good romances with wonderful characters and happy endings (with some “that’s how life is sometimes” sprinkled in), this will be a winner for you!

I really liked many of the themes and concepts in this book. I think the characters were beautifully done, but the incest and infidelity was too much for me on this one.

I’m not going to lie, I couldn’t stand this book at first. I hated the first person narration (I wasn’t a fan of the voice and it just seemed annoying). I am SO glad I kept reading, though, because this was such a fully realized novel. I appreciated the themes of healing the inner child, love, and feminine rage. It didn’t quite get to 5 stars in the end because of the ending, but I really enjoyed this read and would recommend it to anyone who likes a closed-circle island whodunnit.

It was SO GOOD. If you love birds, Series of Unfortunate Events, and lovable characters, you have to read this book. I loved it so much.

WOW!!! I would be shocked if this wasn’t at least nominated for Book of the Year. This was such an incredible read, touching on themes of love, heartbreak, betrayal, and the fact that everyone has something to hide. I was most touched by the perspectives of the various women in this book. With each one, the reader will notice that freedom and what it means to them (along with what they would sacrifice in order to obtain it) is a shared theme. I can’t say much more about it without spoiling it, other than the fact that I simply couldn’t put it down and it did not at all feel like a 400+ page read. Brava to Liz Moore on a masterpiece!

Such a fun, light, and easy read!!! Loved the Standard Poodles, and the recipe in the end was a sweet bonus. :) Great read for a wide variety of ages, even better for people who don't have a consistent reading schedule and have to refresh their memories when they get back to reading.

This book was so sweet. I loved that it took place over the course of a day and was a little novella. I loved that Isabel romanticized so much about her life and was so comfortable with her self/coming to her own. I loved the aesthetics, the characters, everything. Realistically a 4.5/5, only because my 5-star ratings are for books that I really think have changed my life in some way. I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone looking for a warm, emotional, cute read (especially after something draining).

Oh man. I wanted SO BADLY to love this book, but it ended up striking out right at the end.
You are immediately aware that our protag is a jerk (if that bothers you, you may want to avoid this read), but I really enjoyed learning about the intricacies of his life and how the relationships between the characters developed in Part I.

Things got weird with the “hands had a mind of their own” bit ... wasn't sure if I was supposed to take it literally until the very end (I started to wonder if the “horror” aspect was possession with ... hands? Mouths?) and both Billy and Timothy's deaths seemed poorly justified given the “morality tale” categorization of the work. Not only does Todd realize/acknowledge the deaths well after they have occurred, but they have little bearing on the plot yet somehow squeak their way into the end. They had to die because they ... knew about the book? That Timothy liked the book? If this was really a cautionary tale against writers exploiting women to become successful, how did their deaths make sense and why did Quantick turn Helen into a ruthless and senseless killer with Todd's “friends”?
And ... if her killing criteria included male writers who killed women in the pursuit of or as an effect of potential success, how did it make sense for Todd to die for killing Brehm..? I feel like that greatly sullied the point.
Super open to theories/anything I may have missed in the book.

I did enjoy the body horror descriptions in the book and the character development itself, but the horror plot was kind of a miss, and that was surely disappointing. 3 stars for being a fun read and keeping my interest, wish the horror plot was a little more realized in the end.

Coming from this not knowing what it would be about
I cannot BELIEVE what I just read. How completely DEVASTATING oh my gosh

This book made me SO SAD, but it was SO GOOD. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because I really wanted to hold onto the story or Wren and Lewis. While I really enjoyed getting some background on Wren's parents (and that whole thing), I really felt a mounting drama in the primary story that was interrupted with the background. I didn't feel that the energy caught on the same way when the story resumed.

The story and its conclusion were so interesting and heartbreaking. It was so unique and captured some of the most vulnerable parts of the human soul. It's raw, new, and it will make you want to hold onto everyone you love tightly.

Honestly it was super well written and I mostly (kinda) enjoyed the story but it was just triggering so in reality I did not enjoy it

It was so good. I was honestly so sure I was going to despise Clover throughout the book but the way she begins to interact with the other characters (most of which I LOVE with some strong female leads) is so cute and you really start to feel for her as she begins to navigate the world and learn how her loss and rejections made her fearful of getting close to others and that's why she's like that in the beginning of the book
I know so many people who can find comfort in this book and I feel like it highlights so many important things when it comes to death, love, and regrets — I love love loved it so much and I'm going to keep it in my heart for a long time.

This book was SO BEAUTIFUL AND AMAZING. It is easily one of the best books I have read to date. It focused a lot on growth after loss and making the most of your situation. I really liked the “now what” following what was basically an ecological apocalypse perspective of the book and accepting non-closure. I would 10000% recommend reading, especially if you're

• navigating/grieving bigger changes in your life
• interested in the environment/global warming and survival
• looking for a book that will emotionally hook you

Okay so I have MANY thoughts on this book which I will summarize in bullets

• I got this book because I thought it was going to be some kind of closed-circle horror story like Saw. At one point I thought it was going to turn into The Most Dangerous Game. But ... I was WRONG
• I liked the protagonist but I wasn't a HUGE fan of the repeated cliches (I.e. “I did something so bad .... Nobody knows what I did.............. so long ago..........” And “oooooooh his father is so HOT but I know that's so BAD” Like they didn't bother me too much but these same points were revisited so much without much variation that it stuck with me
• I knew it was a Get Out situation as soon as I opened the book and I knew Edward had something to do with it when he made Harriet go through all that shit and she was like “is there something fucking wrong with you????? None of this was normal” and then was like NUH-UH
• I like ... still don't understand what was up with Edward in the end. Like... he killed for bloodlust? And he found common ground with Harriet because she also killed one time ? I know he explained that all of the women knew too much or whatever and then he was like “oooohhhh I'm killing my whole family so I can TAKE OVER THE COMPANY even though they said I could take it back once my father retires but he hasn't” so he's just impatient ??????? And why would you need to kill everyone for that??? Like the book was really good overall (I literally read it in a night) but once again I feel like the ending was kind of sloppy and the rationale wasn't as strong was the other plot twists and devices used throughout the book which were SO good

Overall, the book undoubtedly captivated me and I was MAD the whole time during the Krampusnacht part. I'm going to read a synopsis to try to fill in the gaps I have and I might edit. Also I didn't like Fiona from the start she got exactly what she deserved Ls for the kids tho

Literally SO amazing and wonderful. It made my heart so happy and everything came together so nicely. This was such a wonderful feel-good book but it was also so raw and real (and I love that there was so much bird content) I Al so happy I got to read this

This was my first feminist lit novel. It was written in 1899 so the language wasn't super accessible to me and it took a little more effort to get to the meat of the story. It featured a lot of luxuriated romantic description and I felt like the plot was really like 50 pages long if you cut away the pages and pages of setting description. Ultimately, this was my first encounter with the drowned self-actualized woman motif and I felt extreme pity for Edna. One of my greatest fears is being discounted or feeling trapped, so I easily sympathized with her. Still, my heart hurt a lot when I finished it and it felt very bleak. I felt like I learned a new perspective from this book, but it didn't have any immediate takeaways - however, I did notice that the feminist themes in the book were limited to affluent white women and the role starkly contrasted with the roles of the Black and Hispanic women in the book. I can't help but wonder if that was intentional as a part of the irony of the story, but given the context, I don't think that would make sense. Overall, I rate it 3/5 (really 3.5) stars because I respect the book for its revolutionary qualities and appreciated the depiction of women's relationships in the 1800s. I wish it didn't make me feel so empty after I finished it, but it was good and made me want to read another novel of similar caliber.

Okay, so it started off pretty slow and almost casual. I chose this book because I really wanted to understand what the protagonist was going through and how her friends were able to support her throughout her diagnosis and treatment. The beginning felt very fluffy, even though the diagnosis comes pretty early. The first half seems like a lot of inner dialogue and jokes as a coping mechanism, which is valid and okay, but I was really looking for something more raw and vulnerable.
The second half of the book focuses more on the characters' challenges and how they are working through them, and this is when things get more intense.

It really did end up being worth reading. I feel like I learned a lot and was engrossed in the story about 60% of the way through, and I commend the author for writing something so raw and poignant to her own experiences.

Alright. So:

PROS
- Plots twists
- Closed circle horror (kind of..? Not really? In spirit?)
- Intense game of cat and mouse
- Pretty good comedic relief
- Definitely suspenseful as you try to figure to figure out who the victim at the beginning is and then how and why
- Chapters end on cliffhangers

CONS (for me)
- Non-linear can be a little confusing
- Multiple narrators in a non-linear timeline
- Definitely could not decide if it wanted to be more romance or thriller based and I personally wasn't a fan of the jumping back and forth but can also appreciate the duality
- Some of the plot twists kind of felt like when Doofenshmirtz is like “oh, it's just a platypus.... PERRY the platypus”???? But after a while it kind of gets old
- I think some people would definitely like having unreliable narrators but I don't like not knowing who to root for/who to like. By the end I didn't really have anyone I was rooting for so I was just like ... kind of waiting for it to end because then it kept going back and forth with “poor Ciara..... BUT PERHAPS NOT....... poor Oliver..... ALAS!!!!! Poor Ciara again .... But WAIT!!! Poor Oliver .... Oh no, Oliver...” Like by the end I was the most lit about Karl tbh

I feel like this book had a lot of potential for me and I definitely appreciate that it's the first book I've read that happened during quarantine, but it fell short as a result of the cons I described. Again, I'm not necessarily saying they're flaws of the book, I'm just describing elements that I personally was not a fan of.

It was pretty good. I liked how it linked up with references from the first two books, and I liked how Pip's character continued to develop to depict her rage, sadness, numbness, fear, and loneliness. I think the pace was a little inconsistent - it got a little dry at times and then picked up again at others. I did really fall in love with Pip, Ravi, and Nat's characters. Overall, it was a good series and I think I would read it again.

This book was so close to being 5 stars until they wanted to come in at the end talking about “your dad is the star” ummmm

OK SO I have a lot of thoughts about this book so here are my hot takes

• I honestly planned on giving this 2 stars because I really wasn't a fan of the way it was written. I'm guessing it's YA, but there were times where I felt the prose was kind of cringy (also there were a few editing errors). The pace/style matched the frenzy at the end, though.
• It took me almost 200 pages to start liking any of the characters TBH. I didn't mind, just a note.
• I would have really liked more formalized sections of chapters or chapters dedicated to outlining what happened to each of the girls/their history. I know one of the emphases of the book is the center the girl over the tragedy, but my rat brain was working overtime to put everything together
• Fast pace made it a quick read for me and I did enjoy that
• I did end up liking Heather in the end but I still don't fully understand what her deal was
• Okay and finally (I'm just saying but like) i just thought it was interesting how the first and only final girl to be picked off was a WoC

I wanted to love this book so bad, but it was very ok. The subject matter made it interesting and got me through 500 pages to the end, but I kind of felt like:

• The prologue was completely unnecessary and kind of set a weird tone for the beginning of the book (felt like a rushed infodump that we would have discovered anyways)
• Most of it was incredibly predictable
• The “plot twists” happened in the last 40 or so pages (again, out of 500)
• I still don't completely understand why Delaney or Elliott died??
• Overall, I felt that the plot was very lackluster with some sprinkled in gore that keeps the reader going

I wanted to like Henley, but I feel like the reader is kept at an arm's length, and not because of her personality. She is stuck in a weird 2D/3D limbo where she is constantly on the brink of character development (or at least more realized or likable to the reader, maybe?) but we never quite get there. The chapter where Olivier confronts the copycat lacked gusto - not what I would have hoped for in the rising action.

I will say that I appreciated the character diversity and the way the author shines a light BIPOC discrimination within law enforcement. Again, the book wasn't my favorite, but I think it was a great start for the author. Not sure if I plan to read the next Anjelica Henley installment, but maybe I'll pick it up on a whim one day and give it a shot.

I liked it. Kind of disappointed that the most (if not only) somewhat likable character gets murked in the end, but it was definitely an interesting read.
None of the characters are especially likable - I felt like I didn't get to know the MC well enough to root for her. I loved the references to Japanese history, folklore, and art. I REALLY could not stand Talia and I almost felt sorry for Faiz (but not really). I appreciated how real the ending was and the kind of dumbness that followed. Overall, it just felt like I was bearing witness to a disaster - but it was an enjoyable one.

I enjoyed it overall!!!! 4.5 stars because the middle got kind of cringy and rushed, but it definitely picked up again in the last third. I definitely wish Erik had a longer stint, I really enjoyed his character and his part was super refreshing. Overall, very interesting concept and I liked the ending!!!!

I actually liked this one better than the first - I think the story itself was a little more pleasant to follow (not that the theme was pleasant) but the strength of this particular book was the author's depiction of rage and hopelessness. I really liked Pip's development as well as the development of a few particular characters, and I hope Ant and Lauren don't come back for the final book.